Page 34 - Londra Gazete Sayı 1119

Londra Gazete, 18 August 2022 LondraGazete.com/English 7

Heathrow Airport extends cap

on passengers to end of October

HEATHROW is to extend a cap sengers a reliable service when they vent a repeat of the unacceptable
on the number of passengers flying travel." last-minute cancellations we saw
from the airport until the end of Oc- "We want to remove the cap as earlier in the summer, thousands
tober due to staff shortages. soon as possible, but we can only of people will now be anxious about
It means the limit will now be in do so when we are confident that whether their travel plans could be
place until after the UK school half- everyone operating at the airport scuppered," said Guy Hobbs, travel
term holidays. has the resources to deliver the editor at the organisation.
Tens of thousands of UK passen-
After consulting with airlines, a service our passengers deserve," he
Government to simplify daily limit of 100,000 departing added. gers have been affected by travel
passengers will now apply until 29
Consumer rights group Which? disruption throughout the summer.
broadband access October, the airport said. also warned the move will leave According to aviation analyt-
It said the measure would enable
THE government is launching of people face being cut off from the more reliable passenger journeys. thousands of passengers' plans in ics firm Cirium, the number of
limbo, saying the situation was a last-minute flight cancellations
a new system to simplify access to online world". The UK's largest airport said the "mess". from the UK was up 188% in June
cheaper broadband. Which? analysis of recent Ofcom cap would "provide passengers with "Though the extension of the pas- 2022, compared to June 2019 be-
From 22 August, people receiving data revealed nearly six million confidence ahead of their half-term senger cap may help Heathrow pre- fore the pandemic.
certain benefits can ask broadband households are struggling to pay for getaways".
firms to check their eligibility for so- essential telecoms. When the cap was first announced
cial tariffs. Reduced social tariffs allow UK in July it was initially in place until
This means customers will not households receiving government 11 September.
have to take full responsibility for benefits such as Universal Credit, Earlier this month, British Air-
proving they qualify for low-cost op- Pension Credit, Jobseeker's Allow- ways suspended ticket sales for
tions. ance and Income Support to pay less short-haul flights from Heathrow as
Campaign group Digital Poverty for internet and telecoms access. a result of the cap.
Alliance described it as a positive Current providers include BT, The airport also said the cap
first step but warned it did not go far Community Fibre, NOW, Sky, Virgin would be kept under regular review
enough. Elizabeth Anderson, chief Media and VOXI. and could be lifted early if staffing
operating officer for the Alliance, ar- Tariffs range from £10 to £25 levels improved.
gues that, as more sectors moved es- per month depending on preferred Heathrow chief commercial of-
sential resources and services online bandwidth, supplier and who quali- ficer Ross Baker said: "Our primary
,"it's not right that a growing number fies for the low-cost alternative. concern is ensuring we give our pas-