Emirates’ airline, Emirates Airlines, said today Thursday that it plans to operate its scheduled flights to and from London’s Heathrow Airport.
The company stressed that it has no plans to reduce the capacity of its flights after the airport threatened to sue if the number of passengers is not reduced.
The company called Heathrow’s request “unreasonable and unacceptable” and said it was not realistic to move some flights from Heathrow to other UK airports after a short notice.
In a statement, Emirates Airlines expressed regret to authorities at London Heathrow Airport who, according to a seemingly random calculation, gave it 36 hours to comply with the capacity reduction. Until further notice, Emirates Airlines plans to operate scheduled flights to and from Heathrow Airport.
“Their letters not only indicate on which flights we must send passengers who have already paid for the tickets, but also threaten legal action in case of non-compliance. This is completely unreasonable and unacceptable, and we reject these demands,” she added.
The Emirates carrier said it has ground handling and catering services at Heathrow run by Emirates Group’s Dnata Group as it is fully operational and capable of handling its flights. Thus, the essence of the problem lies in the centralized services and systems that are assigned to the airport operator.
And now, with blatant disregard for consumers, the Heathrow authorities want to force Emirates to cancel flights for tens of thousands of travelers who paid for tickets, booked stays on their long-awaited vacations or flights to their loved ones. And this happens during the peak period of the holiday season in the UK.
Emirates has said that 70% of its Heathrow passengers have reserved seats for flights passing through Dubai, highlighting the impact of the decision on its operations.
Source: Al-Khalij newspaper.
