Heathrow airport has reverted to single runway operations due
to a slow-down in air traffic caused by a slump in demand owing to the
coronavirus.
From today, aircraft departures and arrivals will all take
place on a single runway rather than the London hub¡¯s usual mode of using one
strip for take-offs and the other for landings.
Heathrow said it could not predict how long the measures
will be in place.
Over the coming weeks the airport will also temporarily move operations from Terminals 3 and 4 into Terminals 2 and 5
alongside the airlines that already operate there. However, it assured customers
that ¡°the significant reduction in passenger traffic will ensure that
passengers are able to continue to adhere to the government¡¯s social distancing
guidance even as the operation is consolidated¡±.
It added: ¡°These changes will provide us with greater
resilience throughout this difficult time and allow us to reduce operational
costs with the aim of protecting as many long-term jobs at the airport as
possible.¡±
Heathrow said last week that passenger flights operating
from its terminals have reduced by 75 per cent since the start of the
coronavirus outbreak, but it is utilising spare capacity to put on more cargo
flights. It claimed that in the last week of March, cargo-only traffic was up
409 per cent compared to the average seen before the pandemic, with more than
40 per cent of the UK¡¯s pharmaceutical products imported via the airport.
The hub is also assisting airlines operating repatriation
flights, such as recent British Airways services that brought home 330 British
nationals left stranded in Peru when the country went into lockdown.