Heathrow Airport is reportedly considering cutting flight numbers this Christmas to avoid chaos at the travel hub.
The West London airport is discussing passenger caps with airlines for the busiest days this December.
While Heathrow has not said which days are likely to be affected, December 18, 19 and 20 are historically the busiest for departures, and December 27 and 28 for arrivals.
The move would be a kind of reintroduction of the summer and autumn flight cap which Heathrow brought in in July and is due to end later this month.
“We are removing the cap that was in place over the summer and discussing with airlines a number of more targeted options to proactively manage peak demand days over winter if needed," a spokesperson for the airport told The Mirror.
"Heathrow’s priority is to ensure passengers get a great service, and we are encouraging airlines to engage with us on developing an approach to achieve this."
Heathrow brought in the cap to calm chaos at the airport as demand spiked following the lifting of lockdown restrictions, with numbers of staff whittled down since the start of 2020 seemingly unable to cope.
The summer and autumn cap limited seats to 100,000 a day in and out of the airport, meaning a reduction of around 4,000 daily.
Airlines were asked to stop selling tickets on certain days and some flights had to be grounded.
While Heathrow is expecting parts of the winter schedule to be the busiest period since the start of the pandemic, it has also issued a warning about a possible general slowdown.
Any drop in demand would be a new blow to the aviation industry, stalling its recovery from the pandemic just as it had taken root over the last six months.
During September, Heathrow said 5.8 million passengers passed through the airport, 15 per cent below levels seen in 2019.
"While we face many economic headwinds, as well as the legacy of Covid, our aim is to get back to full capacity," Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said in a statement.
To add to the issues, airport workers represented by Unite are being balloted for industrial action from today.
If they vote to go on strike, then the airport could be plunged into chaos from mid-November.
