Since 12 July, the largest airport in the UK has had a capacity limit in place, allowing no more than 100,000 departing passengers per day to combat a huge increase in flight cancellations, delays and baggage incidents as travel gets back on its feet.
The cap was originally due to end on 11 September, but the airport announced in August it would be continued until 29 October to ease the pressure ahead of mid-term breaks.
Speaking about the success of the capacity limit, a spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said: “Our focus has always been on removing the cap as quickly as possible—but we will only do so if we are confident that adding in more passengers will not erode the service levels that the cap has secured.”
After the cap is lifted, Heathrow will keep separate restrictions which prevent airlines from making changes or additions at peak periods, as well as introduce an emergency measure used to limit capacity for shorter periods which the airport will be able to implement in case of severe disruption.
This comes as Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport confirmed it would extend its passenger cap until at least the end of March next year, which the airport noted airlines were “not happy” about.
