Heathrow tells airlines to stop selling summer tickets

Hongkongers flying from London's Heathrow Airport should brace for possible flight delays or cancellations as Britain's busiest airport has asked airlines to stop selling tickets for summer departures until September 11.

Heathrow aims to cap the number of passengers flying out at 100,000 to limit queues, baggage delays and cancellations.

Like other airports across Europe, Heathrow - which had between 110,000 and 125,000 daily passenger departures pre-pandemic - is struggling to cope as demand rebounds amid staff shortages in the aviation industry as countries open up after many were sacked during the pandemic.

Airlines at Heathrow had already responded to a government appeal to cut capacity, but the airport said it needed them to go further.

"Some airlines have taken significant action but others have not and we believe that further action is needed now to ensure passengers have a safe and reliable journey," CEO John Holland-Kaye said in an open letter.

Heathrow said the average number of outbound seats still remaining in the summer schedules was 104,000 a day - 4,000 above its cap.

It said on average 1,500 of these 4,000 seats had been sold to passengers.

British Airways, Heathrow's biggest customer, has already cut 10,300 short-haul flights between August and October to minimize disruption after the British government offered amnesty if airlines did not use their slots.

Currently, local flagship Cathay Pacific is the only airline running direct flights between Hong Kong and London, while major UK rivals Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have yet to resume direct flights to the SAR.

In response to The Standard's enquiry on whether Cathay has been told to stop ticket sales, the airline only pointed to its latest passenger flight arrangement on its website which still show it is running daily flights between Hong Kong and London, as well as 12 for Manchester, this month.

According to the Hong Kong International Airport website, two direct flights from London landed at the airport yesterday. They were delayed for 25 and 40 minutes, respectively.

The airline will fly one direct flight from London to Hong Kong this morning and another tomorrow morning.

Hong Kong Tourism Association executive director Timothy Chui Ting-pong yesterday advised returnees from the UK to keep an eye on possible flight delays or, worst, cancellations, as they should make prompt changes to their bookings of quarantine hotels in Hong Kong.

A mother whose daughter studies at a UK boarding school told The Standard that most students in the UK should have returned to Hong Kong, as schools had started their two-month summer holiday by last week.

"I think most of them started their holiday by July 7 at the latest, with some starting even earlier," she said.

Her daughter returned to Hong Kong on June 27 and was released from hotel quarantine on July 3.

"Given Hong Kong's week-long quarantine, I believe most parents, like myself, have bought tickets for them to come back once school has ended," she said, adding that friends of her daughter had also returned to the SAR.

Asked if she was worried Heathrow's flight reduction would affect her daughter's return flight to the UK late next month, she said: "The pandemic has taught me that the future cannot be predicted. I've bought my ticket and that's all I can do.

"I'll have to adapt to changes and come up with new plans if they arise."

Another mother, whose son goes to another boarding school on the outskirts of London, said her son flew back to Hong Kong on July 5, transiting via Doha.

"He said he had to wait in line for two hours just to check-in at Heathrow, compared with almost no wait at all before travel restrictions were relaxed," she said.

"But he had arrived at Heathrow much earlier, around five to six hours in advance, so it was not a problem for him, apart from sore legs."