Emirates slams Heathrow move to limit flights as ‘airmageddon’

Emirates slams Heathrow move to limit flights as ‘airmageddon’

Emirates has criticised London Heathrow’s decision to limit flights as “airmageddon”, and said it would ignore the move in a growing backlash from airlines against the airport’s attempt to avert travel disruption.

The Dubai state-owned airline said the airport’s decision to cut flights and limit the number of passengers for the remainder of the summer was “entirely unreasonable and unacceptable”.

The UK’s busiest airport this week introduced a daily limit on the number of departing passengers for the first time, telling airlines to stop selling tickets over the next two months.

On Thursday, Emirates said it had been given 36 hours from Wednesday night to comply with capacity cuts of a figure “that appears to have been plucked from thin air”.

Heathrow dictated the specific flights from which paying passengers should be barred and threatened legal action for non-compliance, the airline added.

“We reject these demands,” Emirates said. The airline intends to operate as scheduled.

It is almost unheard of for major airlines and airports to disagree over flight schedules and whether to run flights.

Given the Emirates decision to ignore the cap and continue with its planned schedules of full planes, Heathrow has not been able to force airlines to comply, one industry executive said.

While some airlines have