Qantas rearranges London flights to avoid Heathrow's hats and chaos

Qantas was forced to reschedule two flights from London’s Heathrow Airport this week, following the airport’s decision to impose a limit of 100,000 passengers per day in hopes of easing congestion amid extended delays.

The London-Singapore-Sydney QF2 service will now depart nine hours earlier than usual – at 12pm, and from Heathrow’s Terminal 4 instead of the usual Terminal 3 – in a bid to avoid rush hour crowds.

However, this will leave hundreds of passengers on the Airbus A380 superjumbo facing an 11-hour stopover in Singapore – with Qantas saying it will provide accommodation for passengers – before flights continue to Sydney on their regular schedule.

The airline said it was contacting all passengers booked on Tuesday’s QF2 flight to warn them of the change.

“Like all airlines, we are disappointed by the decision made by Heathrow Airport to suddenly reduce passenger capacity and we are doing everything we can to minimize this impact on our customers,” a Qantas spokesperson said. Executive Traveler.

“We have two flights a day to London and we want to keep them at all costs considering people’s travel plans are at stake.”

“We have managed to negotiate a solution that is not perfect but will get our customers to their destination. We are continuing to work with Heathrow to remedy this situation.”

Sunday’s departure for London-Perth flight QF10 was delayed by three hours due to Heathrow Airport directives.

At the time of writing this is a one-time change, not an ongoing time reset of two of Qantas’ flagship flights on the Kangaroo Route.

Airlines scrambling to cut flights

The introduction of Heathrow Airport passenger limits from July 12 to September 11 amid staff shortages and a surge in travel demand has airlines scrambling for the peak travel season.

Heathrow Airport CEO John Holland-Kaye said the reduction of about 4,000 passengers per day would give travelers “confidence that everyone traveling through the airport will have a safe and reliable journey and arrive at their destination with their bags.”

British Airways was one of the first airlines to reduce capacity, canceling most flights for the summer, with Virgin Atlantic quickly joining the cuddle.

Qantas partner Emirates initially rejected the airport’s sudden request in a strongly worded statement, saying the “airmageddon” situation at the airport was the result of the hub’s own incompetence. However, it has since backtracked and trimmed the schedule to fit.

Following discussions between Emirates President and Heathrow CEO, the Gulf carrier said it is now “willing to work with the airport to restore the situation over the next two weeks, to keep demand and capacity in balance and provide passengers with a smooth and reliable journey through Heathrow this summer.”

Flying six times a day between London and Dubai on its A380, Emirates has agreed to limit sales on its flights from Heathrow until mid-August, giving the hub an opportunity to leverage resources.

The twice-daily Qantas flights between Australia and Heathrow carry a maximum of 1442 passengers, which represents just 1.4% of the total passengers below the airport limit.

Heathrow has struggled to cope with a surge in summer travel demand in recent weeks, with reports of more than three hours waiting in the carousel and many passengers arriving at their destinations to find their bags not even making it onto flights.

As a result, many passengers are turning to the use of high-tech tracking devices to keep an eye on their belongings.

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