Operational Update - 30 Nov 2020

30 Nov 2020

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

Flight movements

At the end of October we outlined how we expected to see between 360-690 flight movements during November, with the higher numbers coinciding with school half-term holidays in the first few days. However, the subsequent Government announcement of a new national lockdown led to airlines significantly revising and reducing their schedules in response to a drop in passenger demand. This consequently meant flight numbers were much lower than we had forecast for November. As of today (30 November 2020), the lowest number of flights in the month per day so far has been 293 (17 November) and the highest has been 682 (1 November). 

We are expecting flight and passenger numbers to increase in December due to the ending of the national lockdown in England on 2 December, the introduction of policy to allow shortened quarantine times through testing on 15 December, and Christmas journeys to visit family and friends. Based on our latest forecast and the information currently available, we are expecting to see between 260-650 flight movements a day during December. However, these numbers could vary as airline schedules are continuously being revised. These numbers may vary depending on the status of the pandemic.

Runway operations

As mentioned above, we are expecting to see an increase in flights during December, particularly in the second half of the month. If the number of flights rises as expected we will need to return to two runway operations. We will continuously review this and keep you updated to confirm when we expect to operate from both runways again.