London’s Heathrow Airport Extends Passenger Cap Through October

London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the busiest airports in all of Europe, will keep its 100,000 departing passenger cap until at least late October.

Heathrow had installed the cap in July as a way to combat ongoing passenger disruptions. At the time, London Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said that service at the airport had dropped “to a level that is not acceptable: long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not traveling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality, and last-minute cancellations.”

The plan was for Heathrow to leave the 100,000 passenger cap in place until Sept. 11, but that date has now been extended through at least Oct. 29 because of how well it has helped to dampen summer travel chaos.

According to the airport, the cap has “resulted in fewer last-minute cancellations, better punctuality, and shorter waits for bags” and that other airports who had also installed a cap, including London Gatwick, Frankfurt, and Schiphol, have seen similar results.

“Our primary concern is ensuring we give our passengers a reliable service when they travel. That’s why we introduced temporary capacity limits in July which have already improved journeys during the summer getaway,” Heathrow CCO Ross Barker said.

The cap could be removed earlier, Barker added, but only if there is a “sustained picture of better resilience and a material increase in resourcing levels.”

“We want to remove the cap as soon as possible, but we can only do so when we are confident that everyone operating at the airport has the resources to deliver the service our passengers deserve.”