Originally Posted by
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Wouldn't that suggest that 100k means all BA's planes are full, whereas on a normal day with 50k passengers their planes are just half full?
Depends on how many planes and their capacity on the day in question! If you look at the BA schedules carefully, you'll notice how the fleet gets scheduled so that on Fridays out from London there is often A380s and A321s going outbound but perhaps a 777-200 or an A319 on the more lightly loaded inbound service on the same route. You also get a visual representation of this by looking at the apron - I can work out what day of the week it is by strolling out to the CCR or Flounge terrace. But it does explain why delays happen on peak days when the bigger birds get flogged into tight schedules and boarding takes longer.