Heathrow airport recorded the busiest summer as compared to other European airports with over 5.8 million passenger footfalls in September 2022. This figure is just 15% below the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “Heathrow has grown more in the past 12 months than any airport in Europe and we’ve delivered a great passenger experience to the vast majority of travellers. I’m proud of the way our team has worked with airlines and their ground handlers to get 18 million passengers successfully away this summer. While we face many economic headwinds, as well as the legacy of Covid, our aim is to get back to full capacity and the world-class service people should expect from the UK’s hub airport as soon as possible.”
Heathrow also showed a positive graph on passenger service levels from January to June 2022. However, the level dipped in July 2022 as the passenger demand exceeded the airport capacity forcing the airport to implement a cap on passenger intake. Heathrow reports that after imposing the cap the overall situation improved with demand and supply in balance which improved the passenger experience.
“However, we expect peak days at Christmas to be very busy, the airport said. “Resource levels across the airport, airlines and their ground handlers have been increasing and we can now remove the cap at the end of the month. We are working with our airline partners to develop a more targeted mechanism, which protects passenger service during peak periods,” the airport said in a statement.
Going ahead, Heathrow has predicted an uncertain outlook with economic headwinds, a new wave of Covid, and the escalating situation in Ukraine.
“Our focus over the next 12 months is to get capacity, service levels, and resilience back to the high levels that they were before the pandemic. This relies on having a regulatory settlement that provides enough cash flow to invest in our operations and capital projects and to maintain an investment-grade credit rating,” the airport said in the concluding statement.