Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
It can't really be separated from LHR's overall performance since BA is over half of flights, just under half of passengers (and would be well over if you added the 3 other IAG airlines). But yes there has been a concerted Heathrow wide effort to improve performance since it feeds a lot into the logic that LHR is competing with AMS, FRA, CDG in terms of being a European hub with global reach. There is a liaison committee which sits between the airlines and the airport, and a lot of their work is trying to iron out the various small things that can get in the way of on time performance. However it has to be said the biggest factor is simply the weather. BA and HAL can get LHR to work well on 97% of capacity, but once there is fog or wind or thunderstorms then something has to give.
Every time I curse Heathrow (which is often
) I have to remind myself that they do remarkably well given the constraints. The shortage of runway capacity in SE England is plain to see and successive governments have ignored it, which means we are stuck with delays for the rest of our lives. It's not just BA- Lufthansa seemed to have had a mare the week just gone as well. I missed a connection in FRA on Thursday after a nearly 90 minutes delay out of LHR. On arrival in FRA it was clear that I wasn't the only one... though I have to say that as a Senator LH's IRROPS handling was pretty good.