Heathrow Airport taxi rank ‘throughput’ DECREASES as system delays continue to frustrate drivers, says trade rep
- Perry Richardson
- Mar 9
- 2 min read
Throughput at the taxi rank at Heathrow Airport fell slightly in January compared with the same month last year, with industry representatives warning that ongoing delays to a long-planned technology upgrade are continuing to affect operations.
According to the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), taxi throughput at Heathrow was 2.3% lower in January 2026 than in January 2025. While the year-on-year drop is modest, driver representatives say volumes are well below the levels seen immediately after the pandemic and are now broadly comparable with pre-2020 figures.
Sam Houston, Senior Officer at the LTDA, said in TAXI Newspaper: “Heathrow Airport (taxi rank) throughput in January was 2.3% down on January 2025, which doesn’t sound too bad but levels are well down on the post-pandemic years. In fact, current throughput is pretty similar to 2019.”
The Heathrow taxi operation relies on the airport’s Taxi Feeder Park (TFP), where licensed black cab drivers queue before being dispatched to terminal ranks. Drivers have reported disruption in recent months due to technical issues affecting the existing system, which has occasionally delayed vehicles entering the feeder park or progressing towards terminals.
LTDA says airport throughput now similar to pre-pandemic levels while feeder park technology project continues to face delays
Houston said: “The new system has still not been implemented and the old one has broken down several times, leading to delays getting into the Taxi Feeder Park (TFP) and down to Terminals.
“On some occasions this has also led to drivers not being able to get into Newall Road, which is very unfair, as drivers are threatened with sanctions when this happens and it is not their fault.”
The LTDA also raised concerns about the timeline for the airport’s planned technology overhaul of the feeder park dispatch system. According to Houston, the project has taken longer than initially expected, raising the prospect of higher ongoing IT costs even before the new system becomes operational.
“The project is taking a lot longer than was first stipulated and this will surely have an impact on ongoing IT cost, even before the system goes live,” he said.
Separately, Houston highlighted discussions around how the taxi feeder park operation is funded within Heathrow’s regulatory framework. The airport has indicated it would prefer to move the feeder park from the regulated Operational Regulatory Charge (ORC) structure within its licence.
Houston said this proposal could have financial implications for drivers who rely on the regulated framework to help keep operational costs predictable.
“Heathrow Airport (HAL) has made it clear that it would like to move the TFP operation out of the regulated charges (ORC) part of their Licence, but it’s hard to see any world in which this would be a better deal for drivers,” he said.
Despite the operational challenges and recent throughput dip, the LTDA maintains that the current regulatory model has generally worked well for the taxi trade operating at Heathrow.
“Despite some ups and downs, ORC has been good value overall for taxi drivers at Heathrow and I hope we will remain under that system for some time to come,” Houston added.
The Heathrow Airport taxi rank is the largest taxi rank in capital used by hundreds of licensed cabbies each day and forms a key part of the capital’s licensed taxi service.
