Heathrow cancels flights affecting 10,000 travellers on Monday and warns of more to come

Heathrow ordered the cancellation of 61 flights on Monday, affecting 10,000 passengers – and warned of more to come this summer.

The flights were axed because the airport said it did not have enough capacity to handle expected passenger numbers.

Airlines were asked not to rebook affected travellers on to alternative flights on Monday.

Problems with the baggage system during the weekend led to hundreds of bags not being put on to flights.

“To maintain a safe operation we have asked some airlines in Terminals 3 and 5 to remove a combined total of 61 flights from the schedule,” a Heathrow spokesperson said.

“We apologise for the impact to travel plans and we are working closely with airlines to get affected passengers rebooked on to other flights.”

Heathrow also said it will ask airlines for more cuts if it does not believe previous schedule reductions will be enough to reduce disruption.

The government recently ordered airlines to make sure they can deliver on their timetables and gave them amnesty to cancel flights without being penalised.

Wizz Air was the latest carrier to reveal further cuts to its schedules by a further 5%, despite forecasting a strong summer.

British Airways, Heathrow’s biggest airline, and other carriers have scrapped thousands of flights in recent weeks, while others have been beset by delays.

Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “We will review the schedule changes that airlines have submitted in response to the government’s requirement to minimise disruption for passengers this summer and will ask them to take further action if necessary.”

Heathrow apologised for the airport’s service that has “not been acceptable” in recent weeks and said its staffing levels will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of July.

Airports with worst delays revealed

New analysis revealed that Heathrow had the third-poorest record for flight punctuality at UK airports last year.

Departures were an average of 11 minutes and 48 seconds behind schedule, according to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data by the PA news agency.

The worst flight delays were at Birmingham Airport, where departures were late by 12 minutes and 24 seconds on average.

Southampton Airport had the second-poorest record, with delays of 12 minutes.

Exeter and Aberdeen ranked fourth and fifth.

The research looked at all scheduled and chartered departures.

The most punctual airport was Southend, where flights were only two minutes and 48 seconds late on average.

This was followed by Belfast International and Teesside International, which had delays of more than four minutes.

Birmingham Airport said many of its delayed departures were able to make up time in the air because fewer flights were running during the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more: easyJet reported over treatment of passengers with cancelled flights

“Last year was a dark time for aviation when Birmingham Airport was reduced to just 25% of normal resource and capacity due to COVID,” a spokesperson said.

“Due to the unique operating environment caused by massive air traffic reductions, the usual pressures did not exist, so flights taking off late were able to catch up en route.”

Overall, punctuality across UK airports last year was better than before COVID-19 because fewer flights were taking off.

2022 has been ‘a different story’

Jo Rhodes, an expert at consumer magazine Which? Travel, said 2022 “has been a different story entirely” as the sector is struggling to cope with the spike in passenger numbers.

She said holidaymakers “have endured wide-scale flight cancellations as well as unacceptably long queues at check-in, bag drop and airport security”.

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“The government must take action to restore consumer confidence in travel,” she said.

“That should involve stronger powers for the CAA, including the ability to fine airlines directly when they break the law.

“Ministers should also drop their ill-conceived plans to slash compensation rates for delayed or cancelled domestic flights.”

Airports have struggled to recruit enough workers to deal with increased demand after many in the industry lost their jobs.