2 hours ago
Emirates Airlines rejected Heathrow Airport management’s request to stop selling tickets during the summer, describing it as an “unreasonable and unacceptable” request.
The airline accused the airport of “not caring regarding passengers”, following it decided to reduce the number of passengers to 100,000 during the summer.
The company said Heathrow management “appears to have assigned a number at random and ambiguously”.
She added that she planned to operate her flights to and from the airport as scheduled.
In a statement highly critical of Heathrow airport management, Emirates Airlines accused the airport of “blatant disregard” for customers.
The company said, “They want to force Emirates Airlines to refuse to grant seats to tens of thousands of travelers, who have paid for and booked months before their vacations, or their long-awaited flights to see their loved ones,” noting that people were desperate to travel following two years, of restrictions imposed due to epidemics. .
The company said it was given 36 hours to reduce passenger numbers, and thus flights, and was threatened with legal action in the event of non-compliance.
“This is absolutely unreasonable and unacceptable, and we reject these demands,” she added.
The figure for the number of passengers traveling to Heathrow will be in effect between now and September 11.
The company added that this reduction constitutes “more than 50 percent” of the number that Heathrow Airport used to handle daily, which amounted to an average of 219,000 passengers, before the pandemic in 2019.
Thousands of travelers in Britain have been affected by the turmoil in recent weeks, with many having to deal with last-minute flight cancellations.
The UK is regarding to enter a major summer holiday season as school holidays begin and there are fears travelers might experience further disruptions and flight delays.
Airports and airlines, which cut jobs during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, have struggled to hire staff as demand for international travel returns.
But Emirates said its ground and catering staff are “fully prepared and able” to handle its scheduled flights, claiming that “the crux of the problem lies in the centralized services and systems that fall to the airport operator.”
“They are paying the full burden – the costs and handling the chaos – for airlines and travelers,” her statement said.
“All signs of a strong return to normal travel were there,” she added.
The airline said that with the recovery of international travel over the past year, it has rehired and trained 1,000 pilots. The carrier also said it had seen “regularly high seat loads” so “our operational requirements cannot come as a surprise to the airport.”
The company’s statement also included: Reserving seats for its passengers is “impossible” in light of all its flights operating at full capacity, during the next few weeks, which included services at other London airports and on other airlines.
Emirates also stated: “Moving some of our passenger operations to other UK airports, at such short notice, is also not realistic. Find a parking space in a mall.
photo released, PA Medium
Theo Leggett Analysis – Business Reporter
Emirates is clearly angry. Although airlines have not always had a smooth relationship with Heathrow, arguing regarding fees for example, this is a different dispute.
Accusing the airport of inefficiency, blatant disregard for consumers and causing havoc that airlines and passengers must solve is a ruthless attack.
And Emirates is going through a difficult situation, as it depends on transporting large numbers of passengers on large planes from London to Dubai, with most of them traveling to other long-term destinations. So canceling every flight is a big deal, and the company believes, it shouldn’t have to cancel.
It’s not the only airline saying this kind of thing, either. Others were pretty candid behind the scenes, too.
Emirates claims Heathrow Airport threatened legal action if it did not comply with the demand to cancel flights – but says it has no intention of doing so.
It is a battle that witnesses all forms of abuse.