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The 100,000 daily cap imposed earlier this year due to staff shortages is due to be lifted this Sunday. But Heathrow warned it could make a return “if needed” to avoid flight cancellations in the run-up to the festive period.

It is understood that the airport is discussing retiming flights from morning peak time, when most passengers prefer to get away, to quieter afternoon slots if the airport needs to manage the festive travel rush.

Heathrow said: “We are working with airlines to agree a highly targeted mechanism that, if needed, would align supply and demand on a small number of peak days in the lead-up to Christmas.

“This would encourage demand into less busy periods, protecting the heavier peaks, and avoiding flight cancellations due to resource pressures.”

The airport said passenger numbers were unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels “for a number of years” but it still needed to recruit thousands more staff.

Heathrow bosses expect there to be 25 per cent fewer travellers this year compared to 2019, with up to 62 million people passing through.

The cost-of-living crisis, the Ukraine war and the ongoing impact of Covid had hit demand for international travel it said.

John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Britain’s largest airport told BBC’s Today Programme the airport wanted to “get back to full capacity as soon as possible”.

He added: “We don’t want to have a cap at all.

“The reason for having a cap is to make sure we keep supply and demand in balance.

“It was absolutely the right thing to do over the summer. It meant for the summer holidays people could get away with confidence.”

But Virgin Atlantic urged the airport to avoid passenger capacity limits during the Christmas travel window “that would ruin customer plans”.

The airline said: “Virgin Atlantic remains ready to deliver a full winter schedule and we expect Heathrow to do the same.”

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