Delta Air Lines packed the plane with baggage from customers whose flights to the US had been canceled.
In a move described by the airline as a “creative solution,” the Airbus A330-200 flew to Detroit on Monday and the bags were then shipped to their owners in the United States.
“We’ve gone as far as recently having a separate charter to repatriate bags to customers who were stranded due to some operational issues,” Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said during a conference call to discuss quarterly financial results.
The operation was launched after Delta canceled a regular scheduled flight from Heathrow to Detroit. Passengers were transferred to other flights and an empty plane was used to transport the stranded luggage.
A Delta spokesperson said: “Delta teams were working on a creative solution to transport delayed checked baggage from London Heathrow on July 11 after a regularly scheduled flight had to be canceled due to passenger volume restrictions at Heathrow airport.”
Many passengers flying to and from the UK’s busiest airport have experienced severe disruptions in recent months, with long security queues and baggage system disruptions.
British Airways has announced that it will cancel six additional daily short-haul flights over the next two weeks in response to the limit.
It has already canceled tens of thousands of flights this summer.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said a major factor in limiting passenger numbers was a lack of ground staff, who have been hired by airlines to provide check-in staff, load and unload bags and turn over planes. .
The airport boss apologized for the impact the capacity cap would have on holidaymakers, with the capacity cap for the summer holidays.
“By taking action now, our goal is to protect flights this summer for the vast majority of passengers at Heathrow and to give confidence that everyone traveling through the airport will have a safe and reliable journey and with their luggage on board. their destination will arrive. ,” he said.
“We recognize that this will mean that some summer trips will either be rescheduled for another day, airport or canceled and we apologize to those whose travel plans are affected.”