The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is climbing regardless of a recent directive coming out of Heathrow airport.
At the time of writing, the flying kangaroo's shares are up 1.7% to $4.485 apiece.
Let's take a closer look at what news is surrounding the company today.
Image source: Getty Images
Heathrow implements passenger cap
As travel begins to ramp up post-COVID, Heathrow airport is experiencing extraordinarily elevated passenger numbers.
This comes as travellers from around the world flock to European destinations for the summer.
Heathrow Airport is well-regarded as one of the major international air hubs, connecting to 84 countries.
Nonetheless, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye has accounced the decision to limit daily departing passenger numbers to no more than 100,000 in a bid to ease pressure on under-resourced airport staff.
He said:
We have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable: long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.
As a result, Qantas has been forced to alter some of its flight schedules from Heathrow amid the passenger caps.
Its London-Perth service was delayed by three hours on Sunday, and the London-Singapore flight will be brought forward by nine hours on Tuesday.
The Australian newspaper reported that a spokeswoman from Qantas was disappointed with the outcome, commenting:
We have two flights a day to London and we want to preserve them at all costs given people's travel plans are at stake.
We've managed to negotiate a workaround that isn't perfect but will get our customers to their destination. We continue to work with Heathrow on improving this situation.
In another blow to Qantas, Heathrow ordered airlines not to sell any more seats for travel, both inbound and outbound, until September 11.
Aviation analytics firm OAG estimates that the daily cost to airlines of slashing passenger numbers and flights is around the $800 million mark.
How much this will affect Qantas' finances remains unknown for now.
Qantas share price snapshot
Since the start of 2022, Qantas shares have travelled on a rollercoaster, posting an overall loss of around 10%.
Qantas commands a market capitalisation of roughly $8.45 billion, making it the 56th largest company on the ASX.
