Qatar Airways considers own Heathrow handler in response to disruption

Qatar Airways has been spurred by the operational disruption at London Heathrow to revisit a previous plan to establish its own ground-handling service at the UK hub. Heathrow’s operator has imposed a two-month capacity cap to limit daily departing passenger numbers to 100,000 over the summer peak. Qatar Airways group chief Akbar Al Baker said the carrier was having to reduce capacity by as much as 30-40% in order to comply with the cap. “As an operator it’s very difficult for me to tell how long it will take [to resolve],” he says. “What’s disappointing to me is that we were given such short notice. Airlines need at least three months’ notification to block the reservation system so we comply with the reduction in capacity.” He says the carrier is assessing both a reduction offered seats and a complete withdrawal of some services to establish which is the more effective mitigation strategy. “But keep in mind it’s having a huge financial impact on airlines – and especially now, when the industry is just recovering from [the pandemic],” he adds. Rival Middle Eastern carrier Emirates’ sister company, Dnata, handles its flights at Heathrow, and Al Baker says he is “re-invigorating” the idea of setting up a similar service to handle Qatar aircraft. “We’ll bring our own brand,” he says. “But, of course, we’ll have to recruit and create jobs in the UK.”<br/>