Heathrow cancels 60 flights and warns it may have to cut more

Heathrow Airport canceled more than 60 flights on Monday and warned it may have to ask airlines to cut more as it struggles to cope with the rebound travel demand after the coronavirus pandemic.

Flights were spread across Terminals 3 and 5, with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Air France among the affected airlines , disrupting plans for around 10,000 passengers.

"We expect higher passenger numbers at Terminals 3 and 5 today than airport n 'currently has capacity to serve, and so to maintain a safe operation, we have asked select airlines in Terminals 3 and 5 to remove a combined total of 61 flights from the schedule," a spokesperson for the airport. .pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement" class="dcr-1mfia18"/>

"We apologize for the impact on travel plans and are working closely with airlines to ensure passengers concerned are re-booked on other flights. music by Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky during a festival weekend in Granada, Spain, with guest conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. They were forced to take a five-hour coach from Malaga to Gibraltar to take alternative flights home.

Passengers from Heathrow and other airports, including Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester, have reported ongoing problems. with huge queues to pass through security, lost hold baggage and the regular failure to dispatch staff to assist travelers with reduced mobility resulting in hours of waiting on empty planes for people in wheelchairs who cannot leave without the proper equipment.

Heathrow said on Monday that 6 million passengers passed through the airport in June – l 'equivalent to 40 years of growth in just four months – and 25 million in the first six months of 2022. That's compared to just 19.4 million passengers in all of 2021.

"Despite our best efforts, there have been periods in recent weeks where service levels have not been acceptable, with long wait times, delays for passengers with reduced mobility, baggage not traveling with passengers or arriving late, and we apologize to all s passengers who have been affected by this,” he said in a statement to the stock exchange Monday morning.

He also said he would "carefully assess cuts to airlines' summer schedules, after the UK government imposed a 'slot amnesty' to allow carriers to cancel flights without losing their share of airport access rights.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye has warned he could ask airlines to cancel more flights if he thinks schedules are still too ambitious and likely to add to the chaos.

"We will review the schedule changes airlines have submitted in response to the government's requirement to minimize disruption to passengers this summer and ask them to take further action if necessary," he said. "We want everyone who travels to Heathrow to feel confident that they will have a safe and reliable journey."

The problems for airports to cope with the recovery have been caused in part by their inability to hire enough staff, after major wage and job cuts by airports and airlines during the pandemic. British Airways last week restored the pay of its check-in staff at Heathrow to pre-pandemic levels, averting the threat of a strike that would have added to the disruption.

Despite preparing for recovery since November, Heathrow said on Monday it would not match pre-pandemic staffing levels until "late July", suggesting there could be several more weeks disruptions to come.