Extension of Heathrow’s 10,000 departing passengers a day capacity cap until October “compounds the misery” faced by travellers.
The Business Travel Association led criticism of the measure which was due to end on September 11 but will now run through the autumn half-term holidays until October 29.
The London hub suggested the move, introduced in July, had resulted in “fewer last-minute cancellations, better punctuality and shorter waits for bags”, noting that other major gateways including Gatwick, Frankfurt and Amsterdam had imposed similar caps, with Schiphol also extending restrictions to the end of October.
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But BTA chief executive Clive Wratten hit back and said: “The decision to extend the 100,000-passenger cap to the end of October does not have the best interest of travellers at its heart.
“It compounds the misery faced by many leisure travellers and heaps pain on British businesses trying to get back to international work.”
He urged Heathrow to be “truthful with its industry and all travellers” by explaining its staffing levels and how quickly the problem is being addressed.
Wratten asked: “As staff levels increase, surely the passenger cap can rise in order to help struggling airlines and to get British people overseas safely and efficiently?
“Why are they taking unilateral action rather than reflecting the reality of their progress? We all deserve better.”
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told the BBC: “We are disappointed that Heathrow airport has already decided to extend the passenger capacity cap until the end of October, as additional resources come on line every week and the airport experience improves.”
The airline said that its ground handlers, Cobalt Ground Solutions, which is responsible for services including ramp and baggage operations, currently have staff resourcing at 95% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
“Airline customers have a right to expect their bookings will be honoured and we’re doing everything in our power to minimise disruption, getting our customers to where they need to be smoothly,” the spokesperson added.
Which? Travel editor Guy Hobbs warned that thousands of people will now be anxious about whether their travel plans could be scuppered even though the extension of the passenger cap may help Heathrow prevent a repeat of the unacceptable last-minute cancellations seen earlier in the summer.
“Heathrow and impacted airlines must act without delay to provide travellers with clarity on which flights are being cut, and airlines must ensure affected passengers are aware of their rights to rebooking or refunds,” he added.
“The aviation industry and the government need to ensure that this mess is sorted out as soon as possible – passenger caps cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely.”
Ryanair responded by adding 100,000 seats from Stansted over the October half-term period with 500 extra flights to destinations in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and France with fares starting at €29.99.
Group chief executive Michael O’Leary said:“While hopeless Heathrow continues to cut flights and raise fares for families, Ryanair and London Stansted continue to add flights, and offer thousands of low-fare seats for the autumn mid-term break.”
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye told the Daily Mail the cap was necessary because airlines continue to try and operate an unrealistic number of flights.
He said many are still yet to increase the number of ground-handling resources more than six months since the issues emerged.
“Unless something changes radically, we’re going to be in the same situation in six months’ time or maybe even 12 months,” he warned.
“We really need to fix this. It’s not just Heathrow, it applies to all airports across Europe.”
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