Travellers to and from Heathrow face uncertainty over cancellations

Intending airline passengers to and from Dublin and Britain’s Heathrow airport are facing added uncertainty over the coming weeks after the Heathrow authorities said they will limit departures and cancel more flights due to overcrowding.

Airlines operating out of Heathrow’s Terminal 3 and 5 were asked on Monday to remove 61 flights from their schedules “to maintain a safe operation”. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said “exponential growth in passenger numbers,” was to blame.

In a statement Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said “Our assessment is that the maximum number of daily departing passengers that airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport can collectively serve over the summer is no more than 100,000″.

He said daily departing seats over the summer would average 104,000 — “giving a daily excess of 4,000 seats. 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.”

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Aer Lingus flies into Terminal 2 at Heathrow and avoided Monday’s disruptions. A spokeswoman said the airline was studying the situation and would comment later. However BA flies from Terminal 5 and Monday’s, cancellations included a morning BA flight to Heathrow and return BA flight from Heathrow in the evening.

Heathrow airport has told airlines the limit is to remain in place from now until September 11th.

Heathrow was contacted for specifics information about flights to and from Ireland and a response is anticipated.

Dublin Airport operator DAA said it has “no plans” to order similar flight cancellations at Dublin Airport. In a statement, Graeme McQueen Media relations manager said “while other airports around Europe and the UK have opted to cancel hundreds of flights each day in order to cope with the challenges resulting from the high demand for international travel, Dublin Airport has avoided such actions”.

He said contingency plans at Dublin Airport were working effectively and “any flight cancellations to date have been the result of decisions made entirely by the airlines themselves”.

Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport rose to 2.8 million in June, with three out of every four passengers passing through security in less than 30 minutes and 93% going through in less than 45 minutes., Mr McQueen said. He added the number of security screening staff available was now back at 2019 levels, with around 80 more set to be hired during July. “We are confident that passengers will continue to see an improvement in the experience at Dublin Airport over the period ahead”, he said.