The UK’s hub airport had warned last month that it might have to put in capacity constraints on the busiest travel days over the festive break.
But in a new update, issued on Friday (11 November), Heathrow said: “We have been working with airlines and their ground handlers to prepare for the Christmas peak, and have a good plan, which will not require any capacity cap.”
The airport did warn that it was aware of potential strikes by several unions in the coming month, including a national stoppage by Border Force staff.
“We are supporting organisations on contingency plans to minimise any impact and encourage all parties to put the interests of passengers first,” added the airport.
Heathrow has only just lifted its daily cap of 100,000 departing passengers, which was in place from July until the end of October, as it struggled to cope with increased demand. The cap forced airlines to cancel flights over the summer, with British Airways particularly affected.
John Holland-Kaye, the airport’s CEO, said: “We have come so far since Omicron grounded Christmas travel plans last year. Heathrow, our airline partners and their handlers are all working together to make sure everyone can be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas.”
Heathrow also released its latest passenger figures which show that it served 5.9 million passengers in October, which was around 84% of October 2019’s traffic.
The airport was boosted by a “buoyant” half-term holiday when it experienced its busiest day since July. Heathrow added that it was also seeing the “gradual return” of business travellers.
Heathrow lauded companies working at the airport for their “incredible job” in recruiting and training around 16,000 new staff over the past 12 months. It added that the airport was now on track to get back to pre-Covid employment levels in time for the peak summer holiday period in 2023.
