Heathrow reports another loss despite travel rebound

Heathrow Airport has reported another loss in the first half of the year, even though people were travelling more for business and holidays.

The UK's largest airport reported a pre-tax loss of £321m in the six months to the end of June.

Heathrow said the summer getaway had started well, but added that a shortage of airline ground handling staff was a constraint on its capacity.

It added punctuality had improved since it introduced a daily passenger cap.

Earlier this month, Heathrow announced it was limiting the number of passengers who can depart each day over the peak summer months to 100,000.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye told the BBC's Today programme that the cap "had worked".

"We've seen a material improvement in performance since it came into place, punctuality has improved, baggage performance has improved, and that shows that the difficult decisions we took two weeks ago are having the impact so that passengers can travel with confidence at Heathrow this summer," he said.

Thousands of UK travellers have been affected by disruption in recent weeks, including last-minute cancellations.

Airports and airlines, which cut jobs during Covid lockdowns, have struggled to recruit staff as demand for travel has returned.