Heathrow’s imposition of a cap on departing passenger numbers caused a public spat with Gulf carrier Emirates when the airline refused to comply.
The airport abruptly announced it was capping passenger numbers at 100,000 a day for two months of peak summer, from July 12 to September 11, requiring airlines to axe up to 4,000 passengers a day. It subsequently extended the cap through to the end of the summer schedule in October.
Heathrow even requested carriers stop selling summer flights as it sought to end daily disruption.
The move triggered widespread anger among airlines, but Emirates went public and refused to cut its schedule.
In a statement, Emirates denounced Heathrow’s action as “unacceptable” and said: “We reject these demands.”
The carrier accused Heathrow of “incompetence” and being “cavalier” in wishing “to force Emirates to deny seats to tens of thousands of travellers who have paid for and booked months ahead” and suggested the cap had been “plucked from thin air”.
It said Heathrow had given just “36 hours to comply” and had dictated “the specific flights on which we should throw out paying passengers”.
However, the following day Emirates issued a joint statement with Heathrow acknowledging: “Emirates has capped further sales on flights out of Heathrow until mid-August . . . and is working to adjust capacity. In the meantime, Emirates flights from Heathrow operate as scheduled.”
Emirates has been operating six daily A380 flights a day from Heathrow to Dubai since October, carrying up to 3,000 outbound passengers a day.
In between these two statements, the Department for Transport (DfT) and CAA wrote to Heathrow asking why it had “determined that 100,000 departing passengers per day provides a safe and resilient airport”.
The DfT/CAA letter insisted: “Heathrow and the airlines that use your airport must be assured, and be able to assure us, that you have in place a plan that can deliver a positive passenger experience through allowing as many people as possible to travel, without too much disruption and . . . avoid significant numbers of short notice cancellations.”
It warned: “The government and the CAA are concerned that current resourcing plans are not delivering this outcome . . . particularly as we lead into the start of the school summer holidays in England.”
The DfT and CAA told Heathrow to “develop a credible and resilient capacity recovery plan for the next six months”.
Yet an aviation source described the row over the cap as “a storm in a teacup”, saying: “Some airlines blew a lot of hot air in public, but privately said ‘We’ll do it’.”
The source told Travel Weekly: “Airports can cap operations. They set the terms and conditions of use of an airport.
“Emirates was taken aback by the cap and lashed out. But ultimately, Heathrow could tell an airline ‘You’re not having a gate’.”
The source added: “Heathrow had been talking to Emirates’ local team for six weeks. Emirates has now accepted what Heathrow has done.”
The same source suggested Heathrow “was a bit annoyed by the reaction”, adding that: “Heathrow was particularly annoyed by the lack of support from the government because they did what the DfT and CAA asked them to do.”
CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty and DfT director general for aviation Rannia Leontaridi wrote to airport and airline bosses in mid-June urging action to end the disruption of flights.
They demanded every carrier review its plans for the summer season to “develop a schedule that is deliverable” and airport chiefs take a lead and “work collaboratively on resilience planning”.
The DfT and CAA insisted: “It is imperative we see an improvement to the resilience in the system, planning and scheduling to reflect the available capacity.
“Our expectation is that you and all those involved in delivering aviation services take all possible steps to prepare for and manage passenger demand.”