British Airways stopped ticket sales for short-haul flights out of London Heathrow before mid-August in the latest knock-on effect of Heathrow Airport’s daily passenger capacity caps to tackle flight disruption and cancellations.
The airline said the sales suspension for domestic and European destinations was designed to leave capacity for existing customers to rebook flights if needed.
A British Airways spokesperson declined to comment on how long the sales pause would last, or the destinations affected but said the airline was seeking to manage capacity restrictions that Heathrow said would last until 11 September 2022.
“We’ve been taking responsible action by limiting sales … on some of our Heathrow services to ensure more seats are available to rebook customers,” he said.
The BA website showed no tickets available for flights departing London Heathrow before 16 August to popular European destinations, including Paris, Milan and Amsterdam.
On 6 July, BA said it would reduce its summer schedule and “consolidate some of our quieter services”.
Heathrow told airlines on 12 July to restrict the tickets sold for flights departing during the next two months to cap the total number of passengers to 100,000 a day and limit queues, delays and cancellations.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has taken similar action as airlines and airports across Europe have struggled to cope with the rebound in post-lockdown travel without enough staff to deal with check-ins and baggage handling.
Last week Heathrow said the capacity cap decision had delivered a marked improvement in punctuality and baggage handling.
Via AAP
