Heathrow Airport

(asked on 23rd February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of flights arriving at Heathrow airport carrying freight but with less than 20 per cent passenger capacity in the last 12 months.


Answered by
Robert Courts Portrait
Robert Courts
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
This question was answered on 1st March 2022

Data on commercial flight operations is collected by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and is currently complete and held by the Department until the end of September 2021.

In the last 12 months where data is available (October 2020 to September 2021), the number of passenger flights arriving at London Heathrow airport which carried freight and were operating with less than 20% of their available seats filled was 6,620. This figure includes international and domestic arrivals on scheduled and chartered passenger services. “Freight” excludes mail, and cargo-only services are not included.

Flights may operate with a low number of passengers for a range of reasons. For the period between October 2020 and September 2021 the normal slot regulations that require airlines to operate 80% of their slots in order to retain them for the following season were completely suspended. This means that airlines have not been required to operate empty or almost empty flights solely to retain their historic slots rights.

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