HEATHROW Airport could impose a cap on passenger numbers at busy times around Christmas, bosses have said.
A 100,000 daily cap imposed over the summer due to staff shortages will be lifted at the end of October.
But Heathrow warned it could return “if needed” to avoid flight cancellations in the run-up to the festive period.
Britain’s largest airport said passenger numbers were unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels “for a number of years”.
Heathrow bosses expect there to be 25% fewer travellers this year compared to 2019, with up to 62 million people passing through.
The cost-of-living crisis, Ukraine war and impact of Covid had hit demand for international travel, it said.
Thousands of passengers have faced delays and flight cancellations in recent months with airports and airlines struggling to recruit enough staff to cope with the surge in demand for international travel, following the removal of Covid restrictions.
Airlines were asked to cut flights from schedules over the summer and Heathrow itself faced baggage handling problems, which resulted in a sea of luggage piling up at Terminal 2 after a technical malfunction.
In a bid to curb cancellations, Heathrow imposed its 100,000 daily cap over the peak summer season and despite the policy, the airport said it was the busiest in Europe, with 18 million people passing through its terminals.
But July move prompted a backlash from one of its main airlines Emirates, which initially rejected the airport’s demands to stop selling summer tickets, calling it “unreasonable and unacceptable”.
It accused airport of having a “blatant disregard” for customers and said it faced “an ‘airmageddon’ situation due to their incompetence and non-action”, before the Dubai-based airline later agreed to the cap.