In a joint letter from the Department for Transport (DfT) director-general of aviation, shipping and safety and the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), John Holland-Kaye has been given until midday on Friday to assure them the airport is adequately staffed for security screening and assistance to passengers with disabilities. It was also ordered to report back with a “credible and resilient capacity recovery plan for the next six months”, according to the letter seen by The Telegraph.
The DfT’s Rannia Leontaridi and the CAA’s Richard Moriarty wrote: “Heathrow and the airlines using your airport need to be confident and able to assure us that you have a plan that can deliver a positive passenger experience by allowing them to travel as many people as possible, without excessive disruption and queues, and in particular to avoid significant numbers of cancellations at short notice and during the day.
“The Government and the FSA are concerned that current resource plans are not delivering this result.”
Earlier in the day Emirates, which operates twelve flights a day from Heathrow’s Terminal 3, hit out at the “incompetence and inaction” that had left the airport in a state of “air jams”.
He spoke after Heathrow this week asked airlines to help it cope by canceling 1,000 flights over the summer and limiting the number of departing passengers to 100,000 a day.
Emirates led a revolt by foreign airlines, protesting that the airport had “given us 36 hours to comply with capacity cuts, a number that seems to come out of thin air”.
“Their communications not only dictated the specific flights on which we should fly paying passengers, but also threatened legal action for non-compliance.
“Until further notice, Emirates plans to operate as scheduled to and from Heathrow”
Industry figures showed that Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines have also so far refused to cancel flights from Heathrow. Under siege, Mr Holland-Kaye defended the airport, rejecting criticism of the airport’s preparation for the opening of the border this summer.
Heathrow claimed Emirates was putting “profit before safety”.
A spokesman said: “For months we have been asking airlines to help come up with a plan to solve their resource challenges, but there were no clear plans and every day the problem got worse.
“We had no choice but to make the difficult decision to impose a capacity cap designed to give passengers a better, more reliable journey and keep all airport workers safe. We have tried to be as supportive as possible to airlines companies. “It would be disappointing if, instead of working together, any airline wants to put profit before a safe and reliable passenger journey.”
British Airways, whose executives regularly clash with Mr Holland-Kaye, sided with the airport and attacked the approach of Emirates, which is based in Dubai and is less exposed to the problems at Heathrow.
A British Airways spokesman said Emirates’ action was “incredibly disappointing news for our customers”.
“We have already taken responsible steps to reduce our summer schedule to further reduce our schedule, using slot relief to minimize disruption, provide certainty to travelers and help airports manage their resources.”
Pressure on Mr Holland-Kaye has increased as pandemic travel restrictions have eased.
The chiefs of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic attacked Mr Holland-Kaye for standing by the demands, despite the airport paying its mainly overseas shareholders £4bn in dividends in the pre-Covid years.
Heathrow has sought to increase customer landing charges to recoup losses accumulated during the Covid travel restrictions. Tensions flared earlier this year when The Telegraph revealed that Mr Holland-Kaye sat on a panel selecting the next Department for Transport director-general of aviation – one of two senior officials who have now written to him demanding action. Heathrow’s boss quit the process after protests from airlines.
Heathrow’s capacity cuts are just the latest effort to ease pressure on the airport, which says it only has 70% of the staff it needs.
British Airways announced last week it would cancel almost 12,000 flights between July and October after Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, relaxed rules forcing airlines to operate a minimum number of services from popular airports such as Heathrow, either full or not.