Heathrow predicted that total passenger traffic in 2022 will be 25% lower than 2019, as it published its third quarter results.
Despite reduced overall demand, the airport struggled to cope this summer, suggesting 25,000 staff members need to be recruited for the airport to function properly at peak times.
It described this as “a huge logistical challenge,” given the security checks that each person will need to pass.
In order to manage with what it described as “40 years of passenger growth in just four months,” the airport capped passenger departures at 100,000 a day earlier this year, but this is due to end on 30 October.
It said: “We are working with airlines to agree a highly targeted mechanism that, if needed, would align supply and demand on a small number of peak days in the lead up to Christmas.
“This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures.”
In the first nine months of 2022 Heathrow reported that 44.2mln passengers went through the airport, with the total yearly footfall expected to rise as high as 62mln, up 183% on 2021, but short of pre-pandemic figures.
It reported a £0.4bn loss so far in 2022, adding to the £4bn incurred over the past two years, blaming the global economic crisis, war in Ukraine and the pandemic for continuously disrupting the aviation industry.
Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye, said Heathrow is “working with airlines and their ground handlers to get back to full capacity at peak times as soon as possible,” as he also struck out at the Civil Aviation Authority for focussing too much on the short term “which we have seen only benefits airline profits.”