Britain’s Heathrow airport warned it was short-staffed by 25,000 people and demand wouldn’t return to pre-Covid pandemic levels for several years as reported a £442m nine-month loss.
It also said flights may have to be shifted to off-peak times in the run-up to the busy Christmas period to avoid a repeat of the summer chaos that saw hundreds of flights cancelled and luggage piling up at terminals instead of being loaded on to planes.
The airport is this Sunday due to lift the current cap of 100,000 passengers a day introduced in July and is in talks with airlines over the selective cap.
“We are working with airlines to agree a highly targeted mechanism that, if needed, would align supply and demand on a small number of peak days in the lead-up to Christmas,” Heathrow said.
“This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures.”
Britain’s biggest airport said revenue trebled to £2.1bn as travel rebounded from the pandemic and partly offset by passenger cap.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
