British Airways Plans To Cut 10,000 Flights From Heathrow As Winter Draws Near

London Heathrow, among the busiest airports, struggles to hire enough staff to meet the post-pandemic travel demands

British Airways.

(File Photo: IANS)

British Airways is planning to cut about 10,000 short-haul flights to and from Heathrow Airport from late October 2022 to March 2023, according to the airline.

This change is a part of a larger move to help minimise disruption during the winter time, as per a report by the BBC. Some long-haul flights will also be impacted due to this change.

Heathrow happens to be the British Airways' primary hub which has also put a cap on the number of passengers flying from the airport due to a shortage of staff.

Both airports and airlines cut jobs at the height of COVID-19 restrictions. Now, it has been a difficult task for the aviation industry to recruit enough people to meet the rising holiday travel demand.

Heathrow is one of the busiest airports around the world which has struggled to face the demands of increasing number of passengers. Their baggage handling system has been overwhelmed and led to long delays in returning luggage.

British Airways said it was "protecting key holiday destinations over half-term" as schools in England are out of session during the last week of October.

The Airways said in a statement that most cancellations will take place across the routes which have other daily services to same destinations.

The airline did say that passengers affected by these changes would be given the offer to take an alternative British Airways flight or a different airline or even get a refund.

The Airways continued to insist that the impact for customers was "minimal" with the majority of flights unchanged.

"Customers booked for winter will be able to travel as planned and are being given several months' notice of any changes."

British Airways in a statement.

The airline added that its total capacity for the winter schedule will be reduced by eight percent and it was expecting to operate an average of 290 round-trips each day from London Heathrow during the winter.

Earlier in August 2022, British Airways which is the largest operator at Heathrow, suspended its sale of short-haul flights' tickets from the airport for two weeks in an attempt to prevent exceeding its share of the airport's 100,000 per day passenger limit.

This limit on the number of passengers per day was scheduled to end on 11 September but was extended to 29 October.

The Heathrow airport claimed that the capping of passengers helped prevent last minute cancellations, delays, and ensured better baggage delivery.

During the summer, British Airways had already cut more than 30,000 flights and were in the process of planning a slow ramp-up as the winter draws near. However, the extended passenger cap means that it cannot run as many flights as they had hoped.

(With inputs from the BBC)