Airports hit back at Emirates’ Heathrow criticism, accusing airlines of trying to talk down charges

After the boss of Emirates called for the resignation of Heathrow’s chief executive, the body representing airports has hit back – accusing airlines of seeking to influence a decision this week on airport charges.

Emirates, one of the biggest carriers at Heathrow in terms of passengers flown, reacted furiously in July when the airport placed a cap of 100,000 on departing travellers in order to keep numbers manageable.

Now Sir Tim Clark, chief executive of the carrier, has called for the resignation of Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye.

After the Heathrow boss hinted that airlines might once again face a cap over Christmas and New Year, Sir Tim told the Sunday Times: “That’s inexcusable. Anybody who says anything like that is the wrong guy for the job.”

Addressing Mr Holland-Kaye, he said: “Your job is to be up there and out there looking after consumers, not bellyaching about not being able to get staff. We did what we had to do – workarounds. Sitting on your hands and saying ‘ho hum’ – it’s delinquent.”

Willie Walsh, director-general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), joined in the criticism of Heathrow, saying: “Its performance has been a disgrace.”

Mr Walsh, former chief executive of British Airways, said the airport’s predictions on passenger numbers had been “way, way wrong” – vastly underestimating the scale of the bounce back in travel.

But Heathrow’s management team believe the criticism from airlines has been timed just ahead of a crucial Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) decision on charges at the airport.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “It is disappointing that Iata has sunk to making unjustified personal attacks in an effort to influence the CAA board to set a low airport charge which would maximise airline profits at the expense of investment in consumer service.

“Our focus has always been on doing what’s right for consumers. When the industry faced challenges scaling-up this summer, we acted to protect consumer service at Heathrow.

“Our interventions were more targeted than other European hubs and have been shown to be the right thing to do.”

The regulator sets limits on what Heathrow can charge, and is currently considering future charges. In June 2022 the CAA said the average maximum fee of £30.19 should decline to £26.31 in 2026.

Heathrow received strong support from Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, chair of the Airport Operators Association.

She described the comments on Heathrow as…