Heathrow Airport bosses have defended their controversial move to temporarily limit the daily number of passengers passing through the airport to 100,000, saying flight disruptions have stabilised as a result and passengers are seeing less upheaval and delays.
“Passengers are seeing better, more reliable journeys since the introduction of the demand cap,” Heathrow Airport chief executive, John Holland-Kaye said.
Heathrow, Amsterdam and other European airports have put caps on daily passenger numbers in a bid to limit congestion, delays and disruption as the post-Covid surge in travel demand outweighs available resources at airports, which are suffering from significant staff shortages.
Although some bodies – including airline industry group the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – have criticised such moves, airports have said they have helped.
Heathrow – one of the largest airports in Europe, and one of the worst affected by the summer travel chaos – said its passenger cap has “delivered improvements to passenger experience, with fewer last-minute flight cancellations”.
It said it is also conducting a review into ground handling capacity – with 1,300 extra workers having been hired, while security is back to pre-Covid levels.
