- Heathrow is bracing for what could be its busiest period in more than two years this winter.
- The airport is consulting with airlines about managing demand during peak travel times.
Europe's busiest airport is bracing for what could be the "busiest period since COVID began" this holiday season and is consulting with airlines about managing demand during peak travel times.
London's Heathrow airport was the scene of mass delays, flight cancellations, and long queues this summer. Like many other travel hubs globally it battled with labor shortages at a time when demand for travel peaked.
Heathrow was so busy in July that it imposed a cap of 100,000 passengers a day. The cap was extended in September and is set to end on October 29.
Although the airport doesn't anticipate the need for a blanket cap this winter, a spokesperson said Heathrow was discussing with airlines "more targeted options to proactively manage peak demand days over winter if needed".
A "seat factor cap" that limits capacity on the busiest travel days is one of the options being considered, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
The spokesperson declined to comment further but told Insider no final decision had been made.
"Heathrow's priority is to ensure passengers get a great service, and we are encouraging airlines to engage with us on developing an approach to achieve this," the spokesperson said.
The news comes the day after Heathrow released its latest passenger data indicating that it handled almost 44 million passengers between January and September this year. It handled 5.8 million passengers in September – more than double the figure for the same month last year but 15 per cent lower than September 2019.
The airport said that demand for global travel remained uncertain, due to a new COVID wave and the war in Ukraine, but it still expected "peak days at Christmas to be very busy".
Heathrow's CEO, John Holland-Kaye, has previously speculated that it could take until the end of 2023 for the aviation industry to get back to pre-pandemic capacity. In August, the airport said it had recruited 1,300 new staff.