Heathrow vows not to impose Christmas capacity cut

Heathrow has only just lifted its daily cap of 100,000 departing passengers, which was in place from July until the end of October, as it struggled to cope with increased demand. The cap forced airlines to cancel flights over the summer, with British Airways particularly affected.

John Holland-Kaye, the airport’s CEO, said: “We have come so far since Omicron grounded Christmas travel plans last year. Heathrow, our airline partners and their handlers are all working together to make sure everyone can be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas.”

Heathrow also released its latest passenger figures which show that it served 5.9 million passengers in October, which was around 84% of October 2019’s traffic.

The airport was boosted by a “buoyant” half-term holiday when it experienced its busiest day since July. Heathrow added that it was also seeing the “gradual return” of business travellers.

Heathrow lauded companies working at the airport for their “incredible job” in recruiting and training around 16,000 new staff over the past 12 months. It added that the airport was now on track to get back to pre-Covid employment levels in time for the peak summer holiday period in 2023.