Air Malta forced to reschedule London Heathrow flights as airport struggles with capacity

Air Malta will be operating two flights to London Heathrow an hour earlier than usual due to capacity challenges being experienced by the airport. 

In a company statement, the airline said it was advised that its afternoon flight KM103 from the UK airport will not be allowed to depart London Heathrow at its usual time of 7:30pm on the evening of Saturday 16 July and Wednesday 20 July.

"These two flights, along with the associated KM102, Malta to London Heathrow flight, will still operate to/from London Heathrow, however they will operate one hour earlier than previously planned on both dates."

All other Air Malta flights to the airport are expected to operate as per the usual schedule. 

The airline said that the enforced changes by London Heathrow Airport are a result of service delivery challenges in security and airport handling. 

"At this stage, London Heathrow Airport have not advised of the scedule adjustment requirements for dates after 24 July," Air Malta said.

Heathrow Airport told airlines to stop selling summer tickets this week after struggling to cope with a rebound in air travel. To come to grips with the demand, the airport is limiting the number of passengers who can depart each day over the summer months to 100,000. 

The cap will remain in place until 11 September. 

Despite Heathrow's demands, Emirates rejected the capping and accused the airport of blatantly disregarding customers. The airline said it was given 36 hours to cut passenger numbers, deeming the demands "unreasonable and unacceptable".

The airport has had to contend with massive delays in the handling of luggage and passengers as it struggles to re-employ people that had been made redundant during the pandemic.

Travel demand is growing after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted but airports have been struggling to cope.