Britain's busiest airport has introduced a cap to the number of people allowed to depart per day for the rest of the summer.
Heathrow Airport will limit the number of daily departing passengers to 100,000 until September 11 as the aviation sector struggles to cope with demand for travel.
The airport has recently been a chaotic site with scenes such as huge mountains of uncollected luggage with people told they may not be reunited with their bags for two days.
British Airways workers at the airport had threatened to go on strike over the summer holidays due to a pay cut imposed during the pandemic, though per the BBC this was narrowly averted after a 'vastly improved' pay offer.
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Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: "Over the past few weeks, as departing passenger numbers have regularly exceeded 100,000 a day, we have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable: long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.
"This is due to a combination of reduced arrivals punctuality (as a result of delays at other airports and in European airspace) and increased passenger numbers starting to exceed the combined capacity of airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport."
"Our colleagues are going above and beyond to get as many passengers away as possible, but we cannot put them at risk for their own safety and wellbeing."
Joe Harker