British Airways on Tuesday suspended ticket sales for short-haul flights to London Heathrow until at least Monday to comply with the hub’s request to limit flights due to staff shortages.
The airline is among the hardest hit by industry-wide turmoil as airlines eye a recovery after the lifting of travel restrictions for the Covid pandemic.
BA has already canceled thousands of short-haul flights this year as it struggles to staff surging demand.
“As a result of Heathrow’s request to cap new bookings, we have decided to take responsible action and cap available fares on some Heathrow services to maximize rebooking options for existing customers,” BA said in a statement on Tuesday .
The airline, which is owned by airline conglomerate IAG, added it made the decision “given the restrictions imposed on us and the ongoing challenges facing the airline industry as a whole”.
BA already operated a reduced flight schedule.
At the beginning of July, it canceled 10,300 short-haul flights by the end of October.
That brought the total flight cancellations to 13 percent of the entire summer flight schedule.
Separately, BA had avoided a strike by its ground staff at Heathrow last month after making an improved salary offer.
Tuesday’s news came after IAG said last week that it was flying back into profitability for the first time since the pandemic began, buoyed by a strong recovery in demand.
IAG reported net income of 133 million euros ($135 million) for the second quarter, after a loss of 981 million euros a year earlier.
The conglomerate also owns Ireland’s Aer Lingus and Spain’s Iberia and Vueling.
Airlines and airports are struggling to hire staff after shedding thousands of workers as the world entered Covid lockdown.
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