Heathrow airport has said it is prepared for the biggest Christmas getaway in three years and promised that passengers will not have to face a return of the daily cap that was introduced as summer holiday travel descended into chaos.
Europe’s busiest airport, which said last month that on the busiest travel days over the festive period travellers may have to fly outside peak times to manage the festive rush, said it was working on contingency plans for potential strike action over the period.
“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 passenger cap,” Heathrow said. “We are aware of potential strike action at a number of organisations, including a national Border Force strike. We are supporting organisations on contingency plans to minimise any impact, and encourage all parties to put the interests of passengers first.”
Heathrow also said that the airport will finally get back to pre-Covid staff levels before the peak summer holiday period next year, ending almost three years of worker shortages that have wreaked havoc on travellers since the pandemic hit.
John Holland-Kaye, the chief executive of Heathrow, has previously said the airport needs to hire a further 25,000 staff to meet demand at peak periods of the year. Pre-pandemic, there were 75,000 staff employed at the 400 companies based at Heathrow – mostly ground handlers but also airline staff and about 7,500 directly employed by the airport.
On Friday, Heathrow said 16,000 staff had been hired and trained in the last 12 months.
The airport said passenger numbers hit 5.9 million in October, 84% of 2019. So far this year, there have been 50 million passengers at Heathrow, just under three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels.
“The increase in passenger numbers this year is higher than at any other airport in Europe,” it said.
Heathrow has said that passenger numbers are likely to hit 60-62 million this year, 25% lower than in 2019, and does not expect to return to pre-pandemic levels of demand for “a number of years”, except at peak times.
“We have come so far since Omicron grounded Christmas travel plans last year,” Holland-Kaye said. “Heathrow, our airline partners and their handlers are all working together to make sure everyone can be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas.”
The airport is investing more than £4bn over the next few years to speed up traveller transition through security, including new lanes that will allow passengers to leave laptops and liquids in their bags.
