Heathrow will lift its 100 000 per day passenger cap at the end of October, but while flights seem to be getting back to pre-pandemic levels, ticket prices are up to a third more than pre-pandemic fares.
Business Travel Association UK’s Chief Executive, Clive Wratten, said: “September and October have been hampered by fewer flights during the vitally important post-summer business period, and the removal of the [Heathrow] cap will enable business travel to grow again. As a direct result [of the cap], business travellers have been faced with an up to 30% increase on the cost of their flights compared with pre-pandemic prices.”
Heathrow has defended the cap, saying it reduced last-minute flight cancellations and luggage problems.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport recently announced that it would keep its passenger cap until the end of March 2023, after implementing a 67 500 capacity limit in June.
At the end of last month, Iata also warned that the European airline sector would miss its base forecast, as forward bookings had fallen with summer demand waning and the cost-of-living crisis hitting household budgets. It tweeted: “Airports are unable to service existing capacity. Advance bookings are looking weaker for the winter and we do not expect traffic will meet Eurocontrol’s base-case prediction.”
The Eurocontrol forecast predicted that traffic across the European airspace would recover in 2022 to 85% of 2019 levels. Its latest data shows that current capacity is 12% below 2019 levels and will likely miss the base outlook of 90% through to the end of the year.
