British Airways has announced that it will eliminate 10,000 flights to and from Heathrow between late October and the end of March. The airline said the decision was taken with the goal of minimizing disruption over the winter given the extension of the cap on daily passenger numbers imposed by Heathrow airport.
Most cancellations will be on routes which have other daily services to the same destinations, British Airways said in a statement. The airline decided to adjust its short-haul flight schedule until the end of March, adopting a reduction of 5,000 round trips, or a total of 10,000 flights. Under the new schedule, British Airways will operate 290 daily round trips from Heathrow this winter.
Customers booked for winter will be able to travel as planned and are being given several months’ notice of any changes.
British Airways
Affected passengers will be offered to travel on another flight of the airline or a competitor, or a ticket refund. Taking into account the previously announced flight cancellations, British Airways said its capacity has been reduced by 13% in the May-October period.
“Following Heathrow’s decision to extend its daily passenger cap, because of staff shortages and to avoid chaos at the airport, we are adjusting our short-haul schedule,” an airline spokesman said.
The airline also temporarily suspended ticket sales for short-haul flights from Heathrow in early August. The company said that its capacity for this winter has been reduced by 8%, following the recently announced adjustments.
Heathrow, the UK‘s main air hub, announced last week an extension of the cap on passenger numbers until the end of October. The reason provided was the prolonged staff shortages. The airport has struggled to cope with rising passenger numbers and issues with its baggage handling systems caused long delays in returning luggage.
Europe’s largest airport introduced a cap of 100,000 passengers per day on departures in July, or about 4,000 passengers per day below scheduled flight capacity.
The cap was due to expire at the end of September, and was introduced to prevent the chaos of recent months caused by the disparity between the strong demand for flights and the staff shortages inherited from the pandemic. Heathrow’s management announced that the cap was showing positive results with fewer last minute cancellations and delays, and better baggage delivery.
According to the BBC, British Airways had already cut more than 30,000 flights over the wider summer period. The plan was to slowly increase the flights again towards the winter, but the passenger cap means it won’t be feasible.
