Heathrow boss blames airlines for staffing shortages hitting travel

The boss of Heathrow has laid the blame on airlines for the staffing shortages that have caused the airport to issue an unprecedented passenger cap, warning that carriers were “mandated” to cancel flights and cut passengers numbers in response. John Holland-Kaye wrote to the UK government after Emirates led a backlash against the passenger limits put in place this summer, with the Gulf airline saying it would ignore the move and fly as normal. The UK’s busiest airport this week introduced a daily limit of 100,000 departing passengers for the first time, telling airlines to stop selling tickets over the next two months. Heathrow has told airlines it expects the industry slots co-ordinator to take about two weeks to sort out new schedules. In the meantime, the airport has imposed emergency measures that will run until July 24 to try to force airlines to cancel flights and stop selling tickets for any outbound journeys. Late on Friday, Emirates and Heathrow released a joint statement that said after a “constructive” meeting the airline had agreed to cap new ticket sales on its flights out of Heathrow until mid-August, but that its flights would operate as normal until then. In the letter to the UK government seen by the Financial Times, Holland-Kaye said the airport had been working “intensively” with airlines to try to reduce the number of flight cancellations this summer, such as by reducing the numbers of passengers per plane or moving flights to off-peak times. “Most airlines have already complied, and we are grateful for their rapid action, and we are working with the remaining airlines to finalise their plans. Airlines are mandated to act through our conditions of use,” he wrote. But despite the apparent truce with Emirates, Holland-Kaye blamed airlines for the resourcing problems. He said ground handlers, which are contracted by airlines, were still only operating at 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.<br/>