Flights cancelled for up to a MILLION British Airways passengers

Flights cancelled for up to a MILLION British Airways passengers: BA axes more than 5,000 Heathrow flights over next six months affecting half-term and Christmas holidays

• Heathrow Airport will extend its passenger cap to Oct 29 rather than Sept 11 
• The cap is down to the ongoing staff recruitment crisis in airports across UK
• BA cut 10,000 jobs in 2020 and cut 30,000 flights this summer 
• Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye warned the cap could last until next summer 

British Airways has axed more than 5,000 Heathrow flights over the next six months, in a move that could affect up to a million passengers and impact half-term and the Christmas holidays.  

British Airways would make further cancellations up to the end of October and cut thousands of flights from its winter schedule following Heathrow airport’s decision to cap capacity to tackle widespread disruption, Sky News reported on Monday.

The IAG-owned airline’s total capacity for winter schedule until the end of March would be reduced by 8% and impact around 10,000 flights, the report added. 

The news follows Heathrow Airport’s announcement that it will extend its passenger cap to the end of October, rather than next month as planned. 

BA has axed more than 5,000 Heathrow flights over next six months. Picture: file image of Heathrow Airport

The suspension of sales on domestic or European tickets was implemented by British Airways at the beginning of August to allow for existing customers to rebook their cancelled flights.

The cap is largely down to the ongoing staff recruitment crisis that has affected airports throughout the UK this summer. 

It was set to end on September 11 but will now last until October 29. 

Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye has warned the cap could last until next summer as airlines struggle to find new staff, particularly ground-handlers. He said the cap was necessary to prevent last-minute cancellations because airlines were trying to operate an unrealistic number of flights.

The suspension of sales on domestic or European tickets was implemented by British Airways at the beginning of August to allow for existing customers to rebook their cancelled flights. Pictured, a busy Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport on 23 August

Mr Holland-Kaye said ground-handling staff levels are about 70 per cent of what they were pre-pandemic, despite airlines operating around 85 per cent of flights. 

Why is Heathrow imposing a daily passenger cap? 

Airlines were able to take advantage of a Government scheme which meant they could cancel summer flights without losing their future rights to the valuable take-off and landing slots.

But even with this measure, Heathrow believes airlines still planned to operate flights carrying 4,000 more daily passengers than could be processed in an acceptable manner.

Heathrow said: ‘On average only about 1,500 of these 4,000 daily seats have currently been sold to passengers, and so we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers.

‘We recognise that this will mean some summer journeys will either be moved to another day, another airport or be cancelled and we apologise to those whose travel plans are affected.

‘But this is the right thing to do to provide a better, more reliable journey and to keep everyone working at the airport safe.’

Heathrow insisted the capacity cap is ‘in line with limits implemented at other airports’.

It added that airlines have ‘discretion as to how they implement this in their individual schedules’.

Airlines and airports across Europe have struggled to cope with the rebound in post-lockdown travel, with many failing to recruit enough staff to handle check-ins and baggage.

Gatwick has also capped the number of departing flights over the summer, with other airports such as Amsterdam’s Schiphol and Frankfurt airports following suit. 

The new cap will threaten families’ plans for going away over October half-term and could also prevent already high fares from falling as prices could be inflated by the limited number of available seats.

Passengers face having holidays cancelled, departure dates moved or flights shifted to other airports.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: ‘It looks like another one million seats or so are going to be removed from the schedules because of this cap extension. Some of those booked for half term may find their flights are changed so need to keep an eye on any communications from their airline or tour operator.

‘The cap may be working for Heathrow and smoothing passenger journeys, but it’s causing continuing frustration for the million or so who are going to be caught up by this decision.’

British Airways was revealed to cancel the most flights out of all UK carriers this summer as it cut nearly 30,000 flights.

The airline has suffered from staff shortages and absences after cutting 10,000 jobs in 2020.

Since May passengers at major airports, including Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick, have experienced major disruption, with long queues at security and baggage reclaim and last-minute cancellations.

The carrier did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Earlier this month, British Airways halted ticket sales for short-haul flights departing from London’s Heathrow before the middle of August.

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