Heathrow Airport: India-London flights affected, British Airways calls it `incredibly disappointing`

Many Airlines like Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air India, and Vistara operate multiple flights between India and London, however, the passenger cap can lead to the flights` cancellation.

Virgin Atlantic cancelled its Delhi-London flight, and other airlines may do the same in response to Heathrow Airport's decision this week to cap daily passenger volume at one lakh in order to address a staffing shortage. British Airways (41), Virgin Atlantic (21), Air India (33), and Vistara offer 102 weekly direct flights from India to Heathrow airport (seven). Heathrow has had a challenging time adjusting to an increase of travellers after two years of pandemic restrictions and staff reductions, like other airports. Until September 11th, the airport will have a daily cap of 100,000 people, it announced on Tuesday.

"Due to mandatory flight capacity restrictions being implemented by Heathrow Airport on all airlines on Thursday 14 July, we've regrettably had to cancel one of our London Heathrow - New York (JFK) return services, operating as flight numbers VS45 and VS4, and our morning departure to Delhi, flight VS302," Virgin Atlantic said in a statement.

It added that it is contacting affected customers and will rebook them on an alternative flight on the same day wherever possible, with the option to rebook on a later date or request a refund. The limits on passenger numbers imposed by Heathrow airport will remain from July 12 to September 11.

British Airways and Air India are also expected to cancel or reschedule some of their India-Heathrow flights to adhere to the passenger number limits, according to an aviation industry source.

British Airways said in a statement to PTI, "This is incredibly disappointing news for our customers, coming at a time when we've already taken responsible action to reduce our summer schedule to slim our program further, utilizing slot alleviation to minimize disruption, provide certainty for travelers and help airports manage their resource."

As a result of Heathrow's request, the airline said, it will now need to take a small number of additional flights out of its schedule and the carrier will be contacting customers to apologise, advise them of their customer rights, and offer options including rebooking or refund.

"We also know that some customers may want to review their travel plans in light of the current travel challenges and have introduced a policy that will allow customers to easily change travel dates so that they have additional flexibility," it said.

Air India is also expected to cancel or reschedule some of its India-Heathrow flights to adhere to the passenger number limits, according to the aviation industry source.

However, the airline did not respond to PTI's request for a statement on the matter. On July 12, Heathrow Airport's CEO John Holland-Kaye said in a statement that over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have regularly exceeded one lakh per day, the airport has started to see periods when service drops 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.

He said there are some critical functions in the airport that are still significantly under-resourced, in particular ground handlers, who are contracted by airlines to provide check-in staff, load and unload bags, and turnaround aircraft.

"Our assessment is that the maximum number of daily departing passengers that airlines, airline ground handlers, and the airport can collectively serve over the summer is no more than 1 lakh," he added.

With inputs from PTI