Operational Update - 2 Sept 2020

2 SEPTEMBER 2020

The following is an update on the southern runway works and the number of flight movements we expect to see at Heathrow in September.

Southern runway works

The southern runway works were paused from Saturday 22 August to 1 September to allow us to transition to the next stage of the works. This meant that from Saturday 22 August at 7am until Tuesday 1 September at 8pm closure of the southern runway for repair works did not take place and we operated as normal, following the usual runway alternation schedule during the day and night, providing more respite to those local communities affected by flights using the northern runway during this period.

The works resumed on Tuesday 1 September at 8pm. This means the southern runway will be closed for repairs between 8pm – 7am Monday to Friday, and so we will only operate from the northern runway during the night period. Runway alternation will still take place at its usual time at 3pm when we are on westerly operations. Both runways will be in use as normal during the day and night periods on Saturday and Sundays.

At this stage, we anticipate the works to be completed in early October and we will keep you updated as the project progresses. More information about the works can be found here.

Flight movements

At the end of July, we explained that we expected to see an increase in flight movements in August. We said we expected to see between 450-650 flight movements a day during the month, based on the information available to us at the time, and that numbers may vary as airline schedules are continuously being revised. The lowest number of flights in the month was 400 (11 August) and the highest was 570 (2 August). This was lower than we had originally forecast due to reduced passenger demand as a result of the spread of Covid-19 in Europe and a large proportion of our network being subject to the Government’s quarantine policy. 

Based on our latest forecast and the information currently available, we are expecting to see between 400-580 flight movements a day during September. This may vary based on the reasons outlined above.

We will continue to keep you updated on both areas as they progress.