No impact on Abu Dhabi flights to London as Heathrow introduces caps

Passenger flights between Abu Dhabi and London will continue to operate as scheduled.

It comes a day after Heathrow Airport asked airlines to stop selling tickets for summer departures after it capped the number of passengers flying from the hub at 100,000 a day between July 12 and September 11.

In a statement sent to ARN News, a spokesperson for Etihad Airways said they are "working with the airport authorities and the slot coordinator to understand" how the "temporary capacity limits at Heathrow Airport" will be applied. 

"In the event that there is any impact, it will be communicated in due course," the airline added. 

Britain's busiest airport, like others across Europe, is struggling to cope as demand rebounds after the pandemic. Heathrow had between 110,000 and 125,000 daily passenger departures in July and August 2019.

The London hub said the cap was in line with limits implemented at its rivals. Schiphol in the Netherlands has capped passenger numbers about 16 per cent lower than 2019 levels, while Frankfurt has cut flights at peak times from 104 per hour to 94.

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.

"We are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers,"  CEO of Heathrow John Holland-Kaye said.