Case study

Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom Capacity Utilization

It may be the busiest international airport in the world, but it is unlikely to win any prizes for being the most loved. Long delays, overcrowding and shortage of capacity have meant that Heathrow Airport in London, united Kingdom is a cause of frustration to harassed airline passengers. Yet to the airlines themselves it is an attractive hub.

Its size and location gives it powerful 'network effects'. This means that it can match in coming passengers with outgoing flights to thousands of different cities out there.

Actually it this attractiveness to airlines that causes the main problem.

Heathrow runways are in demand that they are always operating to their maximum capacity. These runways operate at 99 per cent of its capacity. This compares to about 70 per cent at most other large airports around the world.

This means that any slightest variability such as bad weather or unscheduled landing or a plane having to turn back due to engine trouble causes serious delays. The result is that a third of all flights at Heathrow Airport are delayed by at least 15 minutes. This is poor when compared to other European airports such as Amsterdam Schipol airport or Amsterdam and Frankfurt in Germany. Which have 21 per cent and 24 per cent of flights delayed respectively.

Question.

1. Identify and describe the main problem or bottleneck with the current process of the services offered at Heathrow airport as alluded to in this case. (18 marks