Heathrow Airport Restrictions Hit India-London Flights, More Cancellations Likely | Key Points

Heathrow airport has imposed a maximum limit on the number of passengers allowed to leave the airport between July 12 until September 11.

In order to battle against a growing staff cruch, London's Heathrow Airport has recently introduced an unprecedented one lakh limit on daily departing passengers until September and has also asked several air carriers to stop selling any more ticket for travel this summer. According to reports, the authorities have imposed a maximum limit on the number of passengers allowed to leave the airport between July 12 until September 11. 

The move has forced several India-bound air carriers to cancel its flights. A report by the Daily Mail stated that more flight are likely to get cancelled as many international air carriers had planned to operate flights with a daily capacity averaging 104,000 seats over that period. 

Here's All You Need To Know About The Healthrow Airport Restrictions

1. Heathrow said it has ordered airlines to 'stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers'. The measure will lead to more cancellations on top of the thousands of flights axed in recent months. It is also to be noted that affected passengers will not be entitled to any compensation as the reason for the cancellations will be classified as being "outside the control of airlines".

2. Several India-London flights could be pulled out from their summer schedule following Heathrow airport’s decision. The move has already led to cancellation of Virgin Atlantic's Delhi-London flight on Thursday. The airline, however, said that it is contacting affected customers and will rebook them on an alternative flight on the same day.

3. Meanwhile, British Airways told news agency PTI that said that India-London (Heathrow) flights are operating as usual at the moment. The airline also clarified later that only its domestic flights in UK and short-haul international flights have been pulled from the summer schedule because of Heathrow's restrictions. 

4. As per an aviation industry source, Air India is also expected to cancel or reschedule some of its India-Heathrow flights to adhere to the passenger number limits. However, Air India has not made any statement over the crisis so far. Even Vistara operates a daily Delhi-Heathrow flight and it has not been affected as yet, said a senior executive of the airline.

5. Thousands of passengers have been hit by delays and cancellations of flights at airports across the UK due to a shortage of staff after thousands were laid off or left the industry during Covid pandemic. At the airport, passengers are facing issues such as long queue times, delays in assistance bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.