Emirates slams Heathrow decision to limit flights as ‘airmageddon’

Emirates has criticised London Heathrow’s decision to limit flights, calling it “airmageddon” and saying it will ignore the move in a growing backlash from airlines against the airport’s attempt to avert travel disruption.

The Dubai state-owned airline said the airport’s decision to cut flights and limit the number of passengers for the remainder of the summer was “entirely unreasonable and unacceptable”.

The UK’s busiest airport, in which a 20 per cent stake is owned by the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, a regional aviation rival to Dubai, this week introduced a daily limit on the number of departing passengers for the first time, telling airlines to stop selling tickets over the next two months.

On Thursday, Emirates said it had been given 36 hours from Wednesday night to comply with capacity cuts of a figure “that appears to have been plucked from thin air”.

Sir Tim Clark, Emirates’ president, described Heathrow’s demand that the airline cut one of its six daily A380 superjumbo flights to Dubai as “delinquent”.

Heathrow dictated the specific flights from which paying passengers should be barred and threatened legal action for non-compliance, the airline added.

“We reject these demands,” Emirates said in the statement. The airline intends to operate as scheduled until further notice. “We have no choice,” said Clark.

It is almost unheard of for major airlines and airports to disagree over schedules and whether to run flights.

Heathrow insisted it controls operations at the airport and can stop airlines flying, but described that as an unlikely last resort.

The pushback from the Gulf carrier is the first public sign of a significant row developing over the airport’s decision to take major steps to avert more summer disruption.

Heathrow announced this week that no more than 100,000 people would be able to fly each day on departures from the airport until September 11, a reduction from 104,000 seats scheduled under current plans.

Heathrow has told airlines it expects the industry slots co-ordinator to take about two weeks to sort out the new schedules, which will see more flights cancelled to get passenger numbers below 100,000 per day.

An airline executive said Heathrow had in the meantime imposed emergency measures running until July 24 that attempted to force airlines to cancel flights and to stop selling tickets for any outbound flights.

Airlines were taken by surprise by the emergency measures and have appealed to the government and the CAA to block them. They are also assessing the legality of the moves, the executive said.

The UK’s aviation regulator and government on Thursday wrote to Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye asking for information “on what measures you are planning to take to ensure that level of capacity is not exceeded”.

The letter, seen by the Financial Times, said the Civil Aviation Authority and the UK government were “concerned” that current resourcing plans by both airport and airlines were not enough to deliver an acceptable passenger experience ahead of the school holidays.

British Airways said it would have to cancel “a small number of additional flights” as a result of the Heathrow cap, which it said was “incredibly disappointing”.

Heathrow said it had been asking airlines to sort out their resourcing for the summer “for months”.

“No clear plans were forthcoming and with each passing day the problem got worse . . . It would be disappointing if instead of working together, any airline would want to put profit ahead of a safe and reliable passenger journey,” the airport said.

Emirates’ six daily A380 superjumbo flights had been operating at full capacity for weeks and were booked out for weeks to come, and there were limited options for diverting passengers to other services, Clark said.

“We are about to embark on the school holidays, with all flights completely sold out and no alternatives — people are going to be left behind one way or another,” he added.

Emirates said its unit, Dnata, was capable of meeting the airline’s ground handling and catering needs, although central services and systems remained the responsibility of the airport operator.

Clark said Heathrow should have been able to increase staffing levels last year to meet the expected “tsunami of demand” as Emirates had done.

“Heathrow needs to understand better the reputational damage all of this will bring on Emirates,” he said. “They will put the blame on the airlines rather than themselves.”

He accused Heathrow of focusing on recovering losses following the pandemic, rather than focusing on recruitment.

The Gulf carrier described itself as a “key and steadfast” operator at Heathrow, having reinstated six daily A380 flights since October last year.