London Heathrow airport looks set to lift its cap on passengers as planned from the end of this month when the summer season ends.
The UK’s main hub airport has imposed a 100,000 daily limit on departing passengers since July, as the aviation industry struggled to cope with high demand for flights. Heathrow said the cap would help to enable travellers to have “a safe and reliable journey”.
The cap had originally been due to end on 11 September before being extended by Heathrow to 29 October, which marks the end of the summer schedule.
Reports from US-based publications, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, said that Heathrow had told airlines that the current cap would not continue beyond 29 October.
Heathrow has always intended to end the cap at the end of the summer season with a different mechanism likely to be used to manage capacity and avoid disruption during the quieter winter season.
The airport is currently working with airlines to try to ensure that they can operate planned schedules during peak periods over the next few months.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We took necessary action in July to introduce a temporary capacity cap which has since been extended through to the end of October.
“This cap resulted in fewer last-minute cancellations, better punctuality and shorter waits for bags. 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.
“We continue to work with all of our airline partners ahead of the winter season to ensure a smooth operation for our passengers.”
Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, said Heathrow’s lifting of the passenger cap would be “some much-needed good news” for the industry.
“September and October have been hampered by fewer flights during the vitally important post-summer business period, and the removal of the cap will enable business travel to grow again,” added Wratten.
“As a direct result, business travellers have been faced with an up to 30 per cent increase on the cost of their flights compared to pre-pandemic prices.”
Last week, another major European hub Schiphol airport in Amsterdam said that it would have to extend its own passenger cap throughout the winter schedule to March 2023, due to ongoing staffing issues and a lack of available security guards.