Operational Update - 1 Mar 2021

01 Mar 2021

The following is an update on the number of flight movements we expect to see at Heathrow in March along with our plans for runway operations.

Flight movements

At the beginning of February we outlined how we expected to see between 200-395 flight movements during February, due to uncertainty over when travel restrictions and lockdown would be lifted as well as the usual daily variation that we’ve seen exacerbated through the pandemic. The lowest daily number of flights in the month was 232 (16 February) and the highest was 357 (28 February), well within our predicted range.

We are expecting flight numbers to be broadly similar in March with a range of 230-400 flight movements a day. However, these numbers could vary, especially towards the end of the month as airlines announce their schedules for the Summer Season and if current flying bans and restrictions are revised.

Runway operations

As mentioned in our previous update, on 1 January 2021 we consolidated our operations and returned to single runway operations due to the significant reduction in passenger numbers at Heathrow in addition to resourcing constraints.

At present we are not able to predict how long we will need to operate in this way, but we will continue to review this situation and will look to revert to our usual operation when the number of daily aircraft movements significantly increases. We will keep you updated to confirm when we expect to operate from both runways again.