British Airways and Virgin Atlantic condemned airport operator BAA’s handling of heavy snow falls in December at a Transport Select Committee hearing yesterday.
Airline executives told MPs that organisation problems at the Heathrow owner left thousands stranded.
BA operations director Andrew Lord said: “At the end of the day, if the airport operators do not provide a service to us it is our customers that suffer and that is a situation that is not acceptable to us.”
Virgin chief executive Steve Ridgway said communication between BAA and airlines had been poor compared to Gatwick, which he said worked more closely with carriers to minimise the severe weather disruption.
Both airlines called for rules that would allow the government to fine airports for poor performance.
BAA chief executive Colin Matthews told the committee: “We had planned for six centimetres of snow, in the event we got far more than that. We should have had a plan which envisaged much more snow.”
The company is due to publish its own report on the snow delays later this month.