‘Unreasonable and unacceptable’: Emirates defies Heathrow demand to cut passenger numbers

Giant airline says ‘LHR chose not to act, not to plan, not to invest’ and says passenger cut is ‘figure plucked from thin air’

Emirates has rejected an order from Heathrow to cancel flights to comply with a cap on passenger numbers (PA)

One of the biggest airlines flying in and out of London Heathrow has flatly refused to cut passenger numbers as demanded by the airport owner.

Emirates called the demand “entirely unreasonable and unacceptable”.

The giant carrier flies a dozen A380 superjumbo aircraft between Heathrow (LHR) and Dubai each day, carrying around 6,000 passengers.

On Wednesday the airport made an unprecedented request for airlines to reduce the number of passengers on departing flights – with a daily cap of 100,000 outbound travellers up to and including 11 September 2022.

British Airways has responded by stepping up its programme of cancellations, throwing the summer travel plans of thousands more customers into doubt.

But Emirates has flatly rejected compliance with “a figure that appears to be plucked from thin air”.

In its first public statement, Emirates revealed what had been going on behind the scenes at the UK’s busiest airport.

The airline complained it was “highly regrettable that LHR last evening gave us 36 hours to comply with capacity cuts” and showed a “blatant disregard for consumers”.

Its statement said: “Their communications not only dictated the specific flights on which we should throw out paying passengers, but also threatened legal action for non-compliance.”

When the airport made its demand to airlines to cut passenger numbers, it cited “challenging conditions at Heathrow that have made it difficult to maintain the quality of service for which we are world-renowned”.

The airport said: “We have started to see periods when service drops to a level that is not acceptable: long queue times, delays for passengers requiring assistance, bags not travelling with passengers or arriving late, low punctuality and last-minute cancellations.”

But Emirates said: “Our ground handling and catering – run by Dnata, part of the Emirates Group – are fully ready and capable of handling our flights. So the crux of the issue lies with the central services and systems which are the responsibility of the airport operator.

“They wish to force Emirates to deny seats to tens of thousands of travellers who have paid for, and booked months ahead, their long-awaited package holidays or trips to see their loved ones.

“And this, during the super peak period with the upcoming UK holidays, and at a time when many people are desperate to travel after two years of pandemic restrictions.”

Under air passengers’ rights rules, any traveller whose flight is cancelled is entitled to be flown on any airline that can take them on the original day of travel. But Emirates said: “Re-booking the sheer numbers of potentially impacted passengers is impossible with all flights running full for the next weeks, including at other London airports and on other airlines.

“The bottom line is, the LHR management team are cavalier about travellers and their airline customers. All the signals of a strong travel rebound were there, and for months, Emirates has been publicly vocal about the matter.

“We planned ahead to get to a state of readiness to serve customers and travel demand, including rehiring and training 1,000 A380 pilots in the past year.

“LHR chose not to act, not to plan, not to invest. Now faced with an ‘airmageddon’ situation due to their incompetence and non-action, they are pushing entire burden – of costs and the scramble to sort the mess – to airlines and travellers.

“The shareholders of London Heathrow should scrutinise the decisions of the LHR management team.

“Until further notice, Emirates plans to operate as scheduled to and from LHR.”

A spokesperson for Heathrow airport said: “Aviation is a complex network and no one can operate in isolation. The network continues to suffer from Covid-related challenges.

“While many factors have resulted in the delayed flights, misconnected bags, long waits for arriving bags and last-minute cancellations at Heathrow and airports across Europe in recent weeks – a key issue is airline ground handling teams which are currently only resourced up to 70 per cent capacity to serve passenger demand which has returned to 80-85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

“For months we have asked airlines to help come up with a plan to solve their resourcing challenges, but no clear plans were forthcoming and with each passing day the problem got worse.

“We had no choice but to take the difficult decision to impose a capacity cap designed to give passengers a better, more reliable journey and to keep everyone working at the airport safe.

“It would be disappointing if instead of working together, any airline would want to put profit ahead a safe and reliable passenger journey.”

Meanwhile, Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, said: “The Heathrow passenger cap is an outrage for business and leisure travellers.

“The arbitrary daily passenger number has been selected and done without consultation with airlines and the wider travel community.

“This is a betrayal of all UK travellers, leaving airlines, travel management companies and travel agents to pick up the pieces.

“Heathrow must be transparent about their problems and offer support for the airlines and travellers this impacts.”