Heathrow restrictions hit Virgin Atlantic’s India-London flight, extra might comply with
5 min readBy PTI
NEW DELHI: Virgin Atlantic cancelled its Delhi-London flight on Thursday and different carriers might additionally pull out India-London flights from their summer season schedule following Heathrow airport’s determination to restrict the variety of passengers to at least one lakh a day.
The limits on passenger numbers imposed by Heathrow airport to deal with a workers crunch are being imposed from July 12 to September 11.
There are 102 direct flights every week between India and Heathrow airport — British Airways (41), Virgin Atlantic (21), Air India (33) and Vistara (seven).
Heathrow airport in London is among the busiest airports on this planet.
Due to obligatory flight capability restrictions being carried out by Heathrow Airport on all airways on Thursday 14 July, we have regrettably needed to cancel considered one of our London Heathrow – New York (JFK) return companies, working as flight numbers VS45 and VS4 and our morning departure to Delhi, flight VS302,” Virgin Atlantic stated in a press release.
It added that it’s contacting affected clients and can rebook them on another flight on the identical day wherever potential with the choice to rebook on a later date or request a refund.
British Airways stated in a press release 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 programme further, utilising slot alleviation to minimise disruption, provide certainty for travellers and help airports manage their resource.”
As a results of Heathrow’s request, the airline stated it’ll now have to take a small variety of further flights out of its schedule and the service will likely be contacting clients to apologise, advise them of their buyer rights and supply choices together with 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 stated.
The airline clarified later within the day that solely its home flights in UK and short-haul worldwide flights have been pulled from the summer season schedule due to Heathrow’s restrictions.
“The India-London (Heathrow) flights are operating as usual at the moment,” the British Airways added.
Air India can be anticipated to cancel or reschedule a few of its India-Heathrow flights to stick to the passenger quantity limits, in keeping with the aviation business supply.
Air India didn’t reply to PTI’s request for a press release on the matter.
Vistara operates a every day Delhi-Heathrow flight and it has not been affected as but, stated a senior govt of the airline.
However, the airline didn’t reply to PTI’s request for a press release on the matter.
On July 12, Heathrow Airport’s CEO John Holland-Kaye stated in a press release that over the previous few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have often exceeded one lakh per day, the airport has began to see intervals when service drops to a degree that isn’t acceptable: lengthy queue occasions, delays for passengers requiring help, baggage not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.
He stated there are some important features within the airport that are nonetheless considerably underneath resourced, particularly floor handlers, who’re contracted by airways to offer check-in workers, load and unload baggage and turnaround plane.
“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.
NEW DELHI: Virgin Atlantic cancelled its Delhi-London flight on Thursday and different carriers might additionally pull out India-London flights from their summer season schedule following Heathrow airport’s determination to restrict the variety of passengers to at least one lakh a day.
The limits on passenger numbers imposed by Heathrow airport to deal with a workers crunch are being imposed from July 12 to September 11.
There are 102 direct flights every week between India and Heathrow airport — British Airways (41), Virgin Atlantic (21), Air India (33) and Vistara (seven).
Heathrow airport in London is among the busiest airports on this planet.
Due to obligatory flight capability restrictions being carried out by Heathrow Airport on all airways on Thursday 14 July, we have regrettably needed to cancel considered one of our London Heathrow – New York (JFK) return companies, working as flight numbers VS45 and VS4 and our morning departure to Delhi, flight VS302,” Virgin Atlantic stated in a press release.
It added that it’s contacting affected clients and can rebook them on another flight on the identical day wherever potential with the choice to rebook on a later date or request a refund.
British Airways stated in a press release 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 programme further, utilising slot alleviation to minimise disruption, provide certainty for travellers and help airports manage their resource.”
As a results of Heathrow’s request, the airline stated it’ll now have to take a small variety of further flights out of its schedule and the service will likely be contacting clients to apologise, advise them of their buyer rights and supply choices together with 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 stated.
The airline clarified later within the day that solely its home flights in UK and short-haul worldwide flights have been pulled from the summer season schedule due to Heathrow’s restrictions.
“The India-London (Heathrow) flights are operating as usual at the moment,” the British Airways added.
Air India can be anticipated to cancel or reschedule a few of its India-Heathrow flights to stick to the passenger quantity limits, in keeping with the aviation business supply.
Air India didn’t reply to PTI’s request for a press release on the matter.
Vistara operates a every day Delhi-Heathrow flight and it has not been affected as but, stated a senior govt of the airline.
However, the airline didn’t reply to PTI’s request for a press release on the matter.
On July 12, Heathrow Airport’s CEO John Holland-Kaye stated in a press release that over the previous few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have often exceeded one lakh per day, the airport has began to see intervals when service drops to a degree that isn’t acceptable: lengthy queue occasions, delays for passengers requiring help, baggage not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.
He stated there are some important features within the airport that are nonetheless considerably underneath resourced, particularly floor handlers, who’re contracted by airways to offer check-in workers, load and unload baggage and turnaround plane.
“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.
