Emirates has rejected Heathrow Airport’s demands for airlines to stop selling summer tickets, calling the move “unreasonable and unacceptable”.
The airline accused the airport of having a “blatant disregard” for customers after it capped passenger numbers to 100,000 per day over summer.
Emirates said the airport now faced “an ‘airmageddon’ situation due to their incompetence and non-action”.
Heathrow said it had no choice but to bring in a cap on departing travellers.
“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,” the UK’s largest airport said.
Emirates said it was given 36 hours to cut departing passenger numbers, and therefore flights, and was threatened with legal action for not complying.
“This is entirely unreasonable and unacceptable, and we reject these demands,” it added.
In a statement heavily criticising Heathrow management, Emirates accused the airport of choosing “not to act, not to plan, not invest” and said its new cap on passengers appeared to have been “plucked from thin air”.
“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,” the airline said, citing that people were desperate to travel after two years of pandemic restrictions.
It added it planned to operate flights to and from the airport as scheduled.
The cap on passenger numbers at Heathrow Airport will be in place from now until 11 September. Before the pandemic, up to 125,000 people, a day departed from the airport.
The BBC has seen a letter from the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates airports, to Heathrow asking airport bosses to explain – by midday on Friday – why it has introduced a passenger cap and what it means for each terminal.
Thousands of UK travellers have been affected by disruption in recent weeks, with many having to deal with last-minute flight cancellations.
The UK is about to enter the key summer holiday season as schools begin to break up and there are concerns travellers will be hit by further disruption and delays to journeys.-BBC
