London Heathrow is gearing up for the festive peak period, with a number of contingency plans in place to avoid disruption following the removal of its daily cap on passengers at the end of October.
The UK’s main aviation hub said businesses across the airport have recruited and trained some 16,000 staff in the last 12 months, which is “keeping capacity and demand in balance”.
At current rates of recruitment, the airport said it is on track to return to pre-pandemic employment levels before the 2023 peak summer season.
Heathrow had to impose a daily cap of 100,000 departing passengers from mid-July due to a lack of staff. This cap was lifted on 30 October, with the airport now promising travellers it will not be reintroduced during peak travel days over the Christmas holiday.
“We have been working with airlines and their ground handlers to prepare for the Christmas peak, and have a good plan, which will not require any capacity cap,” the airport said in a statement on Friday (11 November).
Heathrow said it is also “aware” of potential strike action by the national Border Force after members of the Public and Commercial Services Union on Thursday (10 November) voted to strike over pay and conditions, with dates expected to be announced in mid-November.
“We are supporting organisations on contingency plans to minimise any impact, and encourage all parties to put the interests of passengers first,” the airport said.
Heathrow catered for 50 million passengers during the first ten months of 2022, which marks 74 per cent of pre-pandemic 2019 levels following a “buoyant” leisure market and the “gradual return” of business travellers. The airport said strong recovery in the Middle East and Central Asia seen in October is expected to continue into November.
Further plans to aid recovery include proposed changes to airport landing charges for 2023 and a £4 billion investment that will see the instalment of new security lanes that will allow passengers to leave laptops and liquids in their bags, and a new baggage system for Terminal 2, subject to a regulatory settlement.