Heathrow ‘ready and staffed up’ for summer but warns of ongoing cost of living impact

The London hub reported on Wednesday (26 July) that more than 37 million passengers passed through its gates during the six months to 30 June, up 42.1% on last year’s levels, while load factor went up by 6% to 77.3%. 

“The summer getaway has got off to a great start, thanks to planning and close collaboration with airlines and ground handlers,” said outgoing chief executive John Holland-Kaye, who added staffing levels had returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Heathrow was impacted by severe cancellations and delays last summer as it struggled to recruit enough staff to cope with the boom in post-Covid travel demand, and eventually put a 100,000-passenger-a-day capacity cap on operations.

And despite an increase in passenger numbers over the first half of the year, the airport said traffic remained below 2019’s 80.9 million passengers – and was likely to be impacted further by heightening cost of living pressures.