After Heathrow officials declared an unprecedented 100,000 daily limit on flights as airport instability continues to damage UK travellers, nearly 100,000 customers will have their plans disrupted this summer.
Images from the nation’s airports, including Manchester, Bristol, and Edinburgh, continue to show long lines of travellers who are dissatisfied with the delays and disruptions to their travels.
Heathrow instructed airlines to cancel 10,000 flights on Monday as a result of the daily cap, which went into force immediately. The restrictions will last until September 11.
Heathrow previously anticipated an average of 104,000 daily departure passengers in the upcoming months, so airport managers also ordered UK airlines to “stop selling summer tickets to reduce the impact on customers.”
Calculations indicate that this summer, at least 91,500 people could have their flights cancelled, with the biggest number occurring on July 21, which is predicted to be the busiest day of the year at the airport.
It comes after Heathrow Airport received criticism from the head of airlines for imposing an unprecedented 100,000 cap on daily leaving passengers until September.
After airlines forecast a significant increase in traffic, Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), claimed the airport should have organized itself.
The former CEO of British Airways told Reuters, “They certainly got it utterly wrong.”
As airports struggle with a manpower shortage throughout the aviation industry and apologize to consumers for the lengthy lines and luggage problems that travellers have had to put up with for weeks, Heathrow also ordered airlines to stop selling summer tickets.
The extraordinary action will place a cap on how many people can depart the airport between July 12 and September 11.
Over that time, airlines planned to operate flights with an average daily capacity of 104,000 seats, which means that more cancellations are likely.
In order to minimize the impact on passengers, Heathrow claimed it had ordered airlines to “stop selling summer tickets.”
In addition to the thousands of flights cancelled in previous months, the measure will result in additional cancellations.
As the cause of the cancellations will be deemed to be outside the control of airlines, impacted customers will not be eligible for compensation.
Due to a staffing shortage caused by the thousands of employees who were fired or left the industry during COVID, passengers have been affected by delays and cancellations at airports throughout the UK.
10,000 travellers were inconvenienced by yesterday’s 61 additional last-minute Heathrow aircraft cancellations.
Additionally, in yet another evidence of instability, easyJet passengers mutinied yesterday after being made to wait for four hours on the runway at Gatwick Airport.
They had to wait “till midnight” to get their luggage after being brought back to the terminal because the jet never even took off.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye made the announcement of the passenger cap yesterday.
He said: “Over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have frequently topped 100,000 a day, we have started to observe occasions where service declines to a level that is not acceptable.”
According to Mr. Holland-Kaye, issues include excessive wait periods, delays for passengers who need assistance, bags that do not fly with passengers or arrive late, poor punctuality, and last-minute cancellations.
He claimed that the reason for this is a mix of rising passenger traffic that is “beginning to exceed the combined capacity of airlines, airline ground handlers, and the airport,” together with poor punctuality of arrivals caused by delays at other airports and in European airspace.
He said, “Our staff are working really hard to evacuate as many passengers as they can, but we cannot jeopardize their safety and wellness.”
According to aviation expert Julian Bray, there will be delays at UK airports during the spring of 2019.
All airport aviation employees must receive security clearance, which currently takes between three and six months, thus staffing shortages persist. Many applicants are finding work elsewhere at this time.
When asked what passengers should do if their flights are cancelled, he responded:
“Passengers who have flights cancelled are entitled to compensation and, if available, a flight on another airline.
They should maintain contact with their airline, travel agency, and vacation provider.”
Head of The Points Guy UK, Nicky Kelvin, stated:
“While the decision to curb passenger numbers will undoubtedly cause inconvenience for many travellers planning to depart in the near future, it is necessary if we’re to see a change from the previous travel mayhem.
According to the data, Heathrow has reached its limit for the number of passengers it can now accommodate.
If you are still considering a vacation, we urge you to plan your departure point appropriately.
If possible, be flexible with your travel dates, or think about starting your trip from another London or U.K. airport.
EasyJet passengers were stuck on a runway for four hours yesterday in sweltering conditions, the latest illustration of the chaos engulfing UK airports.
Dominey Jenner, a passenger, reported that although the flight was scheduled to leave Gatwick for Dubrovnik at 1.40pm yesterday, due to delays, passengers were only able to board at 4.30pm, leading to a lengthy wait.
She claims that at the time, when it was 86°F (30°C) outdoors, clients were only given “one glass of water” and there was no food on hand.
After a “mutiny” on board, when “people gave a deadline as to when they would simply go,” they finally left the aircraft around 8.30 p.m.
She claimed, “I heard that the Gatwick police were about to come and escort us off because they’d had calls from passengers on board.”
When they got off the plane, Ms. Jenner claimed their luggage “didn’t arrive until midnight” and that even though they weren’t travelling anywhere, passengers had to go through passport control.
EasyJet has been approached by MailOnline for comment.
As a result of locking out foreign labour, one aviation executive claimed that Brexit was partially to blame for the travel havoc.
The head of Menzies Aviation, which offers check-in and luggage handling services to major airlines, Philipp Joeinig, claimed that the industry’s catastrophic staff shortages were “expected and controllable.”
In order to ease the burden, he added that aviation workers should now be put to the list of occupations with a scarcity of people because Brexit has caused a recruitment crisis.
But detractors argue that the sector ought to pay British workers more and provide better working conditions.
“Brexit had a major negative impact, decreasing the pool of people available,” Mr. Joeinig wrote in The Times.
This was made worse by the pandemic, which resulted in significant job losses for the British aviation sector as furlough programs came to an end prior to the relaxing of travel restrictions and many of these individuals were lost to the sector.
Additionally, he asserted that ministers haven’t cut red tape enough to speed up background checks on new hires.
Employers are currently required to get five years’ worth of references from each new hire’s prior employers.
If some former employers take their time answering, this could take several weeks.
However, in order to speed up the procedure, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps modified the rules last month.
Employers are now able to ask HMRC for information about each past employment.
The Met Office has issued a warning that Sunday’s predicted 100F (38C) heatwave could make airport disruption much worse and make it difficult for aircraft to take off.
This is related to the fact that in extremely hot weather, planes might become too heavy to take off due to reduced air density and a lack of lift.
At London City Airport, this transpired during a heatwave in the summer of 2018, when some passengers had to be let go in order for the services to become light enough to take off on the comparatively small runway.