Airline executives have demanded John Holland Kaye demise as Heathrow’s chief executive following Heathrow’s west London hub revealed in the last week that it would implement measures to control capacity during the festive season.
“That’s inexcusable. Anyone who speaks like that is a bad candidate for the job.” Emirates’ boss Sir Tim Clark told the Sunday Times.
The announcement came just days after Heathrow announced that it would eliminate its daily cap of 100,000 passengers beginning on the 29th of October.
Clark is one of the most ardent opposition to the daily cap, which was put in place to assist the hub cope with the growing demand in summer, and forced airlines to cancel the flights of thousands.
The executive’s initial threat was legal action against the airport , but he eventually accepting the cap. But that did not stop him from slamming the airport’s executive.
“Your task is to be in the air and on the ground taking care of customers without groaning about the inability to hire employees. The only thing we did was what needed to accomplish — devise workarounds,” he said.
“Sitting on your hands and saying ‘ho hum’, it’s delinquent.”
The Emirates boss isn’t the only person to call out Heathrow for not properly handling the return of flights.
Virgin Atlantic’s chief Shai Weiss has criticized the airport’s inability to prepare as aviation chief Willie Walsh called Heathrow’s performance “a disgrace” and its forecasts “way, way wrong.”
As per Clark, Heathrow is in an awkward position due to focussing on dividends to shareholders rather than improving its conditions.
Heathrow has denied the claims and Chief executive John Holland Kaye dismissing Clark’s comments “nonsense.”
He also rejected the calls for resignation by telling the newspaper: “Consumers don’t want people making fun of each other.
“All of us have to work together to deliver great service.”
Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smithwho is the chairperson of the airport trade body AOA she echoed Holland-Kaye’s words, asking all parties to come together.
A spokesperson for Heathrow told media. it was regrettable to hear that Walsh “has sunk to making unjustified personal attack in an effort to influence the CAA board to set a low airport charge.”
The charge for the airport has actually been a major source of dispute between airlines and Heathrow since the beginning of last year.
The regulator for aviation initially accepted an interim fee of PS30.19 per person, which would bring it to below PS27 in 2026 and beyond which was a disappointment for both sides.
Discussions are continuing and a final decision to be taken in November.
