New Delhi: Passengers booked on flights between India and London Heathrow (LHR) this summer face uncertainty about their travel plans. Flights to India operated by Air India (AI), Vistara, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic (VA) could also be affected, with Heathrow’s capacity limited to one lakh passengers per day due to severe constraints.
For example, the VA had to cancel its LHR-Delhi flight on Thursday. BA says it will need to take “a smaller number of additional flights than our (overall, not just India) schedule and we will contact customers to apologize, advise them of their customer rights and including rebooking or refunds.” Will offer alternatives.”
“We have been asked to cut flights this summer. We have sought clarification from Heathrow about the period for which they expect the problem to persist as the summer program in India is in place until the end of October. We are just trying to see how we can minimize disruptions for passengers,” said a senior official of one of the four affected airlines.
Air India is the largest operator between India and the UK with 34 weekly flights – LHR and one from Amritsar-Birmingham and 33 east from several cities in India. AI did not comment on the issue. It has an advantage of operating to Birmingham and travel industry insiders don’t rule out AI operating more flights to Birmingham or adding a new station like Manchester to ride on the Heathrow crisis. AI’s subsidiary Vistara’s LHR’s daily service.
A VA spokesperson said: “Due to the mandatory flight capacity restrictions imposed by Heathrow Airport on all airlines on Thursday (July 14), we regret that we have to cancel one of our Heathrow-New York (JFK) return services. And our morning departure for Delhi, flight VS302. We are contacting the affected customers and wherever possible, will rebook them for an alternate service on the same day, rebook at a later date With the option to do so or request a refund.”
“We recognize the challenges Heathrow is facing serving customers who are hoping to travel over the summer. It is imperative that all players involved come together to ensure that customers travel from Heathrow Be as smooth and seamless as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to affected customers,” Virgin Atlantic, which has a daily between Delhi and LHR and a daily between Mumbai and Heathrow, said.
A British Airways spokesperson said: “This is incredibly disappointing news for our customers, coming at a time when we have already taken responsible action to reduce our summer schedule to further reduce our schedule.” It has provided certainty to passengers by using slot elimination to minimize disruption and help airports manage their resources.”
“As a result of Heathrow’s request, we will now be required to take a smaller number of additional flights than our schedule and we will contact customers to apologize, advise them of their customer rights and offer options including rebooking or refunds. We We are also aware that some customers wish to review their travel plans in light of current travel challenges and have introduced a policy that will allow customers to easily change travel dates so that they have additional flexibility,” BA he said.
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