European airports limit flight, passenger numbers to avoid 'airmageddon'

LONDON • The travellers' destinations were varied: a hotly anticipated vacation in Amsterdam, a conference in Ohio, a family reunion in Austria.

But to get there, travellers at London's Heathrow Airport, one of Europe's busiest, had to navigate long lines, cancelled or delayed flights, and crowds.

"I've never been through this situation," said Ms Fatima Bergamaschi, who slept in a terminal at the airport last Wednesday after a cancelled flight to Brazil from London left her family too tired to book a hotel room.

"I love travel, but nowadays, not so much."

After two years of pandemic-induced staycations, travel has come roaring back in Europe, and the peak summer vacation season is in full swing.

But it has come with myriad problems, as airports and airlines that let employees go during the pandemic are feeling the strain of meeting the recent surge in demand.

Long waits to check bags and get through security and passport control have become the norm, with hundreds of flight cancellations reported across Europe.

To try to cope, Heathrow followed the lead of other airports, like Schiphol airport in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.

Last Wednesday, it made the rare decision to cap departing passengers at 100,000 a day until September.

To accomplish this, it asked airlines to stop selling tickets for summer flights.

Other airports have also moved to reduce flight operations to relieve travel pressures.

The operator of Germany's Frankfurt Airport announced that it intends to reduce the number of flight movements from 96 to 88 an hour starting this week.

According to data published this month, Frankfurt has seen 68 per cent of its flights delayed, faring better than only Brussels Airport's 72 per cent in the Belgian capital.

Heathrow said it had recruited new workers but disruptions to travel were from a mix of factors, including rising passenger numbers, flight delays being passed on from other European airports and a shortage of ground staff.

Some airlines were critical of the cap.

British Airways called it "incredibly disappointing news for our customers", adding that it would have to reduce an already slimmed-down summer flight schedule.

Dubai's Emirates expressed its discontent more directly, saying that Heathrow, facing an "airmageddon" situation due to "incompetence and non-action", was pushing "the entire burden - of costs and the scramble to sort the mess - to airlines and travellers".

The British government launched an Aviation Passenger Charter yesterday to help passengers know their rights if facing problems at airports.

The new charter will help passengers know what to do if they are confronted by cancellations, delays or missing baggage, with guidance on how to complain if they feel they have been treated unfairly.

"Passengers deserve reliable services, and to be properly compensated if things don't go to plan, and the chaotic scenes we've seen at airports are unacceptable," Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.

Last month, the government published a 22-point support plan to avoid further disruption, including telling airlines to run "realistic" summer schedules and promising to speed up security checks.

It said these were now being processed in "record time".

Not all European airports have seen significant disruption this month.

Italy's Milan Bergamo, Ireland's Dublin and Spain's Madrid airports reported less than 20 per cent of its flights delayed while less than 2 per cent were cancelled.

The data suggests that regional airports are better equipped to absorb the shocks of the summer's disruptions, thanks to their lower passenger and flight volumes.

NYTIMES, REUTERS