Between late October and March, British Airways will discontinue almost 10,000 short-haul services to and from Heathrow Airport.

Some long-haul flights will also be impacted by the change, which is intended to minimize inconvenience throughout the winter, according to the airline.

Up to the end of October, BA said it would also eliminate 629 flights, or 12 roundtrips every day.

Due to a lack of workers, Heathrow, which serves as BA’s primary hub, has limited the amount of passengers it can handle.

As demand for vacations has increased, airports and airlines who slashed employees at the height of Covid restrictions have had a hard time finding new hires.

Heathrow has had trouble keeping up with the increase in travelers, and problems with its baggage handling systems have resulted in protracted delays in the delivery of bags.

According to BA, it was “safeguarding important vacation spots throughout half-term.” In England, most schools are off during the last week of October.

According to a statement, the majority of cancellations will be on routes where there are alternative daily trips to the same locations.

A different flight with BA or another airline, or a refund, would be provided to passengers impacted by the modifications, it was noted.

Despite the majority of flights remaining unaltered, BA stated that there was “little” effect on consumers.

Customers with winter travel reservations will be allowed to proceed as scheduled, and any adjustments will be announced many months in advance, according to a statement.

The airline said that throughout the winter it planned to run an average of 290 roundtrips daily from London Heathrow. Its capacity will be 8% lower overall for the winter schedule.

According to aviation expert John Strickland, the number of flights canceled seems to be “quite insignificant in the perspective of what they would hope to operate.”

He said, “At this time, they are probably going to affect a very small number of consumers, and I wouldn’t anticipate any substantial influence on pricing.”

The major airline at Heathrow, British Airways, earlier this month put a two-week hold on ticket sales for short-haul flights out of the airport. This is done in order to stay under the airport’s daily cap of 100,000 passengers.

This limit was been extended to October 29 from its original expiration date of September 11th.

Heathrow said that the cap had been successful in reducing last-minute cancellations and delays while also improving luggage delivery while announcing the extension.

Over the course of the whole summer, BA has reduced more than 30,000 flights, and it had planned a gradual increase in reductions as we approached winter. But because to the passenger limit, fewer people can ride than anticipated.