London’s Heathrow Airport Will Limit Passengers for the Summer

LONDON — Heathrow Airport stated on Tuesday that it will restrict the variety of passengers till mid-September, citing workers shortages which have led to lengthy traces, delays, misplaced baggage and last-minute flight cancellations.

In an open letter to passengers, Heathrow chief govt John Holland-Kaye known as on airways to cease promoting new tickets as essential features within the airport have been considerably constrained.

“We acknowledge that this may imply some summer time journeys will both be moved to a different day, one other airport or be canceled, and we apologize to these whose journey plans are affected,” he stated. In latest weeks, there have been durations when service had dropped to a stage that was “not acceptable,” he stated.

Mr. Holland-Kaye stated the airport might deal with not more than 100,000 departures every day, barely lower than the 104,000 he estimated it will be anticipated to serve on common. He requested airways to restrict the variety of tickets they promote to carry numbers again underneath the 100,000 cap.

When requested how Heathrow would implement the capability restrict, a spokeswoman for the airport, Hannah Smith, stated that this may be managed by an impartial coordinator, Airport Coordination Restricted. “Airways have discretion as to how one can apply the bounds of their particular person schedules,” she stated.

Summer time journey in Europe has been marred by chaos at airports as airways have struggled to maintain up with surging numbers of passengers, wanting to journey after pandemic lockdowns, and staffing shortages. Final week, Scandinavian airline SAS filed for chapter safety after its pilots went on strike. There have additionally been walkouts by airport and airline workers throughout Europe, amid frustration with lengthy hours and low pay that has not saved up with rising inflation.

Different airports have launched related measures. Final month, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam launched a capability cap, citing a scarcity of safety staff and demand for air journey far exceeding expectations, and London’s Gatwick Airport final month additionally stated it will scale back flights for July and August. British Airways stated it will be working on a lowered schedule by 11 p.c by way of October.

Mr. Holland-Kaye stated that Heathrow had began recruiting in November, in anticipation of excessive demand for summer time journey, however that some key roles had been nonetheless understaffed, together with floor handlers, who airways contract to load and unload baggage, flip round plane and supply check-in providers to passengers.