Heathrow boss insists travel chaos in departure lounge

oss of Heathrow John Holland-Kaye has insisted that passengers are receiving a “better” and “more reliable” service as the result of the airport bringing in a passenger cap.

The holiday hub brought in a limit on passenger numbers of 100,000 a day last month after customers slammed the airport over chaotic scenes at check-in desks and severely limited staff numbers including a shortage of baggage handling staff.

Holland-Kaye, said: “Passengers are seeing better, more reliable journeys since the introduction of the demand cap. I want to thank all my colleagues across the airport for their amazing work in getting people away on their holidays.”

At the beginning of this month Heathrow stalwart and national flag carrier British Airways suspended selling short-haul flights for several days with customers unable to book onto domestic or European services flying from the West London airport during the key holiday season.

Last month, the airport also narrowly avoided a strike by aircraft refuelling staff that was called off at the eleventh hour due to a “improved” pay offer.

This coincided with the opening up of holiday destinations following two years or coronavirus lockdowns.  

As challenges persist across the airline industry Michael O’Leary the controversial boss of budget airline Ryanair has dashed the hopes of millions of travellers as he said that the era of the €10 (£8.45) cheap flight would not be seen for a “number of years” due to soaring fuel prices.

The airline that bases its UK fleet at Stansted built its value reputation on fares between €1 and €10 attracting travellers and holidaymakers looking for cheap getaways.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’, O’Leary said that the days of the promotional fare were numbered and he expected Ryanair’s average fare to rise by about €10 over the next five years, from around €40 last year to roughly €50 euros by 2027.