Passenger Capping at Heathrow: UK Govt Issues Ultimatum to CEO

The UK Government issued an ultimatum to Heathrow airport authorities chalk out a plan and resolve it's staffing issues.

According to a report published on The National News, Heathrow's Chief Executive was asked to furnish an explanation on why the airport set a cap of 100,000 daily departing passengers.

John Holland-Kaye was asked to respond by midday on Friday to assure Ministers that the airport has sufficient workers for security screening and to assist disabled passengers, according to a letter from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Director General for Aviation, Maritime and Security and the Chief Executive of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), reports stated.

Thousands of flights have been cancelled, passengers faced hours of queues to check in and make it through security, with thousands more unable to get their luggage.

On Tuesday, Heathrow appealed to airlines to stop selling summer tickets as it imposed the cap, which will remain until September 11.

In its statement on Thursday, Emirates accused Heathrow bosses of showing "blatant disregard for consumers" by attempting to force it to "deny seats to tens of thousands of travellers".

'Unreasonable': Emirates Turns Down Heathrow’s Demand to Cut Capacity

Emirates said that Heathrow's demands were unreasonable and unacceptable and described the airport management as being "cavalier about travellers and airline customers".

“LHR chose not to act, not to plan, not to invest. Now faced with an “airmageddon” situation due to their incompetence and non-action, they are pushing the entire burden – of costs and the scramble to sort the mess - to airlines and travellers," Emirates stated.

Read More: Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates Among World's Best Airlines in 2022