Emirates accuses Heathrow of being ‘cavalier’ after refusing to comply with cap
Gulf carrier Emirates has accused Heathrow’s management of being “cavalier”, after refusing to comply with the hub’s passenger cap.
The airline described Heathrow’s request to cut daily departing passengers to 100,000 as “unreasonable and unacceptable,” blaming airport executives for showing “blatant disregard for consumers.”
On top of operating flights as scheduled, the Dubai carrier added that it has no plans of cutting capacity even after Heathrow threatened legal action for non-compliance.
“It is therefore highly regrettable that (Heathrow) last evening gave us 36 hours to comply with capacity cuts, of a figure that appears to be plucked from thin air,” the airline said in a statement.
Emirates justified its decision by saying its ground handling services were “fully ready and capable” to handle traffic volumes while blaming the travel chaos on “the central services and systems, which are the responsibility of the airport.”
The airport rebutted the accusations, claiming that over the last few months it had asked airlines for help but to no avail.
“We have tried to be as supportive as possible to airlines and our 100,000 cap on daily departing passengers is significantly higher than the 64,000 cap at Schiphol,” a Heatrhow spokesperson said.
“It would be disappointing if instead of working together, any airline would want to put profit ahead of a safe and reliable passenger journey.”
Heathrow’s decision was lambasted by industry stakeholders.
Virgin Atlantic expressed concerns and said Heathrow’s approach was not “targeted enough.”
“It should be focused on ‘what are the bottlenecks, how are we mitigating those temporarily, and how are we really getting beyond this?” chief customer and operating officer Corneel Koster told the PA news agency.
“We expect them to show us the plan of how we’re going to get back to 2019 capacity. We haven’t seen enough of a plan.”
BA said it will cancel an additional six short-haul flights, while the Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) called on Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye to “develop a credible and resilient capacity recovery plan.”
Earlier this week, Willie Walsh – former boss of IAG and now at the helm of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – called the move “ridiculous.”
“Heathrow is trying to maximise the profitability that they get from the airport at the expense of airlines,” he told Reuters on Tuesday.
The aviation executive alleged Heathrow underestimated demand to to “fool” the CAA, reigniting a long-standing feud with the airport.