Heathrow Airport has announced it will extend a restriction on passenger numbers until the autumn.
The west London airport confirmed that no more than 100,000 daily travellers will be allowed to depart until October 29. In a press release, it said the move would "provide passengers with confidence ahead of their half-term getaways".
Heathrow chief commercial officer Ross Baker said: “Our primary concern is ensuring we give our passengers a reliable service when they travel. That’s why we introduced temporary capacity limits in July which have already improved journeys during the summer getaway.
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“We want to remove the cap as soon as possible, but we can only do so when we are confident that everyone operating at the airport has the resources to deliver the service our passengers deserve.”
The passenger cap was originally introduced in mid-July for the UK's busiest airport. The cap was introduced as it believed that would be more than the number of daily passengers that could be processed in an efficient manner without impacting service levels.
At the time, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: "Over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have regularly exceeded 100,000 a day, we have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable.”
It is hoped that limiting passenger numbers would help reduce the poor functionality at the airport seen at the start of summer, resulting in issues such as long queues for check-in and security, delays for passengers requiring assistance, issues around baggage and last-minute cancellations. It is also understood that some carriers may choose to operate flights with empty seats.
Earlier this month, Mr Holland-Kaye said passengers have been seeing “better, more reliable journeys” since the cap on departing flights was enforced. Both Heathrow and Gatwick airports ordered airlines to slash their flight schedules following chaotic scenes as staff shortages left them struggling to cope with the sudden ramping up of demand for overseas holidays.
Heathrow said the cap has “delivered improvements to passenger experience, with fewer last-minute flight cancellations, better aircraft punctuality and baggage delivery”. Mr Holland-Kaye added: “Passengers are seeing better, more reliable journeys since the introduction of the demand cap."
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