After Heathrow bosses instructed airlines to cancel at most 1,000 more flights, summer holidays are now being rationed.
Britain’s busiest airport is capping the number able to fly each day for the next two months — with airlines told to stop selling tickets.
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This latest crisis comes amid ongoing travel misery, with the country facing its largest rail strike in 25-years and planned walkouts by Ryanair staff and easyJet employees.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, who earned £1.5million last year, yesterday said there would be a limit of 100,000 people a day until September 11.
There were 104,000 passengers expected to fly out of Heathrow each day, so hundreds more flights will be cancelled.
Affected passengers will not get any compensation as the cause of cancellation is legally beyond their airline’s control.
Holland-Kaye said Heathrow must act to address huge queues and delays, as well as lost bags, cancellations, and last-minute cancellations.
He said: “Some airlines have taken significant action but others have not and we believe that further action is needed.
“We have therefore made the difficult decision to introduce a capacity cap with effect from July 12 to September 11.
“Our assessment is that the maximum number of daily departing passengers that airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport can collectively serve over the summer is no more than 100,000.”
Around 1,500 of the 4,000 daily seat above the new cap have already been sold.
Those with tickets will have to be rebooked on other flights — possibly with different airlines and on different dates.
Holland-Kaye stated: “We are asking airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers.”
Staff shortages have already caused chaos for travellers for weeks.
British Airways cancelled 10,300 flights between October and November last week.
It previously canned 16,000 more in March.
EasyJet has reduced more than 10,000 flights, Ryanair slashed seven per cent of its summer schedule, Wizz Air five percent.
Heathrow advised airlines that they should cancel 61 flights Monday due to an increase in passengers at the two terminals.
Furious flyer Neil Evans tweeted yesterday: “What a f*****g s*** show.”
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