Passenger Cap Easing Travel Chaos At Heathrow

According to the airport’s traffic report from July 2022, London Heathrow claims the passenger cap has helped the airport weather the travel turmoil.

According to the airport’s assessment, “the cap on departing passenger numbers has produced improvements to passenger experience,” including a decrease in the number of last-minute flight cancellations and an increase in the reliability with which passengers receive their bags.

A passenger cap was implemented at Heathrow on 12 July 2022, with a mandate to handle no more than 100,000 departing passengers a day until 11 September 2022. This came after weeks of travel disruption, during which people waited in long lines at airports.

As a result, Heathrow took flak from airlines all over the world for having to cut back on service to the UK’s busiest airport during the summer months.

Emirates has rejected requests from London Heathrow that it reduces flights to meet a restriction on passenger numbers during the summer travel period.

In response to airline complaints that low salaries make it difficult to hire ground employees, Heathrow Airport has stated that the people who handle baggage at airports “do not work for the airport itself and are independent businesses contracted to airlines.”

Heathrow’s Chief of Staff, Nigel Milton, claimed in a statement dated 21 July 2022 that “ground handling businesses have been trying to recruit and train skilled staff for months” but that they have been unable to do so because their airline customers are unwilling to pay market rates.

Moreover, six million passengers used the airport in July of 2022. For the three months of July and August in 2022, Heathrow predicts a total of 16 million passengers.