Heathrow Airport extends cap on passengers to end of October

Heathrow Airport has announced it will extend a passenger cap through the summer season to the end of October.

It comes as the industry continues to struggle with staff shortages.

After consulting with airlines, a daily limit of 100,000 departing passengers will now apply until 29 October - after UK school half-term holidays - the airport said.

This measure will enable "more reliable and resilient passenger journeys," the airport added.

The UK's largest airport said the cap would "provide passengers with confidence ahead of their half-term getaways".

The airport also said the cap would be kept under regular review and could be lifted early if staffing levels improved.

Heathrow chief commercial officer Ross Baker said: "Our primary concern is ensuring we give our passengers a reliable service when they travel."

"We want to remove the cap as soon as possible, but we can only do so when we are confident that everyone operating at the airport has the resources to deliver the service our passengers deserve," he added.

Tens of thousands of UK passengers have been affected by travel disruption throughout the summer.

During the pandemic the aviation industry cut thousands of jobs as international travel ground to a halt. But since then it has struggled to recruit and train new staff quickly enough.

According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, the number of last-minute flight cancellations from the UK was up 188% in June 2022, compared to June 2019 before the pandemic.

In June, the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority wrote a joint letter to carriers, telling them to cancel flights they cannot deliver this summer.