The UK’s largest airport, owned by Spain’s Ferrovial FER, -0.04% , said it estimated it could handle no more than 100,000 passengers a day, even with the introduction of a slot amnesty — where airlines they are not charged for not using them. capacity — not enough to help matters. “The latest forecasts show that even with the amnesty, daily summer departure seats will average 104,000 – giving a daily excess of 4,000 seats. On average, only around 1,500 of these 4,000 daily seats have currently been sold to passengers, which is why we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers,” said John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow. The airport operator said it started hiring in November in anticipation of capacity improvements and by the end of July it will have as many people working in security as it did before the pandemic. He said there were particularly shortfalls for ground handling, which Heathrow says is contracted to the airlines. Shares of British Airways owner International Airlines Group IAG, -0.66% fell 0.3% after falling nearly 6% on Monday. Other airport operators have also struggled to meet the recovery in passenger demand, with Amsterdam’s Schiphol capping the total number allowed each day to 67,500 in July.
