Passenger access to Heathrow letter

15 December 2021

Tim Alderslade, CEO, Airlines UK
Dale Keller, CEO, Board of Airline Representatives in the UK

 

Dear Mr Alderslade and Mr Keller,

Passenger Access to Heathrow this Christmas

I am writing to ask for your help encouraging airlines operating out of Heathrow over the festive period to urgently make their customers aware of major engineering closures taking place, which prevent rail and London Underground access to Heathrow on Boxing Day (and limit the options at other times).

We understand that Heathrow Airport have done all they can to publicise this disruption but believe that airlines may not have been passing on this information to their passengers. Given that there are over 1,000 scheduled arrivals and departures at the airport on Boxing Day, we are concerned that tens of thousands of people who need to travel to or from Heathrow are unaware of the disruption, the transport options available to them or that they need to allow additional time to get to the airport. We are deeply concerned that some passengers will miss flights to see friends and loved ones at Christmas.

With less than two weeks to go until Boxing Day it is really important that passengers have all the information they need when planning their journeys to Heathrow.

Yours sincerely,

Emma Gibson

Director, London TravelWatch
CC: Karen Dee, CEO, Airport Operators Association; Richard Moriarty, CEO, Civil Aviation Authority