Emirates' Tim Clark explains why airline stood up against Heathrow

Airline president tells Farnborough Airshow that the London airport's behaviour was unacceptable

Emirates' Airbus A3800-800 airliner approaches Heathrow Airport, on the outskirts of London. AFP

Sir Tim Clark received valuable backing from Willie Walsh, the head of International Air Transport Association, for Emirates airline's stance on Heathrow slashing passenger numbers.

Heathrow last week asked airlines to stop selling some tickets for summer flights, limiting the number of passengers flying from the hub to 100,000 a day to ease pressure on operations that have been unable to keep up with demand.

"We said we can't do that and we won't do that," said Sir Tim at a panel at Farnborough Airshow on Monday, days after Emirates and Heathrow Airport issued a joint statement on the crisis engulfing the UK's passenger hub.

Sir Tim criticised Heathrow managers for failing to anticipate the travel rebound until it was too late. He said Heathrow had given Emirates 36 hours from Wednesday to reduce capacity on its six daily flights, which are operated with the Airbus A380 superjumbo.

The president of the Dubai-based airline believes the badly disrupted air travel industry could return to equilibrium in 2023, but that the airlines must "tough it out" until then. Emirates could eventually look at transferring one of its six daily Heathrow flights to London Gatwick as part of an agreement to relieve pressure.

Mr Walsh, who represents the industry in his post-International Airlines Group career, said the management of Heathrow was "a bunch of idiots" for failing to foresee the recovery post-pandemic and the opening up of global business and tourism. "All you had to do was count up the tickets," he said. "Tim was selling six A380s [tickets] per day."

"I am surprised Heathrow have not been able to get their act together better than this. Airlines have been predicting stronger traffic than Heathrow has been predicting ... they clearly got it completely wrong," Mr Walsh added. "To tell airlines to stop selling — what a ridiculous thing for an airport to say to an airline."

Farnborough Airshow - in pictures

Visitors watch a RAF F-35 aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, southern England. Reuters

An Airbus SE A350 aircraft lands after an aerial display. Bloomberg

An Embraer C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft, used by Brazil's Airforce, on display. AFP

A detailed view of a Pratt & Whitney PW123 engine. Reuters

The RAF's Red Arrows aerobatics team perform. AP

Visitors shelter from the sun as they look around the show. AP

An Embraer E190-E2 aircraft. AFP

Visitors look at a model of the Wisk Aero autonomous aircraft. AP

A member of staff shelters from the sun. AP

Attendees walk past a poster of a Boom Supersonic concept Overture aircraft. AFP

A US Air Force F-35A fighter jet on display. Bloomberg

A model of proposed jet fighter aircraft Tempest, a joint programme by a consortium known as 'Team Tempest', which includes Britain's Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo SPA, MBDA and Saab. AFP

Visitors watch the Embraer E2 Profit Hunter plane taking off. AFP

An Aksungur drone, manufactured by Turkish Aerospace Industries, on display. Bloomberg

An Airbus A350 plane flying over the crowds at Farnborough. AFP

Soldiers pose beside a Leonardo helicopter. AP

An aviation enthusiast shelters from the sun at the show. Temperatures were forecast to reach 40°C in parts of England. Bloomberg

A model of a Pratt & Whitney GTF engine. This is the first Farnborough in four years, due to the pandemic. Bloomberg

A Boeing 737-9 puts on a display at Farnborough. Bloomberg

Visitors examine water barrels in a Boeing 777X, in an experiment on weight distribution. AFP

An aviation fan uses a fan to keep cool amid soaring temperatures. Bloomberg

A worker keeps a GulfStream Aerospace Corp G650 business jet gleaming. Bloomberg

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson tours Farnborough, a vital marketplace for the country's aviation industry. AP

Visitors board a Boeing 777X. Deals worth £161 billion ($192bn) were agreed the last time Farnborough was held, organisers said. AFP

Boris Johnson views the display by SaxaVord, the UK Spaceport. PA

More than 80,000 visitors from 96 countries are expected to attend this week's five-day event. Bloomberg

The pair were commenting after Emirates on Thursday angrily rejected demands by Heathrow to cut capacity — despite the threat of legal action. "The way we left it with Heathrow (was that) today we still have our six flights operating," Sir Tim said of the possibility of Emirates transferring one of its six daily Heathrow flights to London Gatwick. "What I needed to do with them was to look at how we can possibly switch over one of the flights into Gatwick."

Last-minute airport curbs are more complicated for Emirates than many European carriers because of the large variety of destinations served beyond its Dubai hub. This means passengers coming from across the globe can be affected, Sir Tim said.

"Anybody who does this to us obviously is going to incur our wrath ... this is totally unacceptable," he added.

"We still have to go into battle with regards to some of the draconian measures (that) they are insisting on taking and I don't really want it to get any more ugly than it has been."

The airline and airport later announced a deal to cap further sales on flights out of Heathrow through mid-August. “[Emirates] is ready and willing to work with the airport to remediate the situation over the next two weeks, to keep demand and capacity in balance and provide passengers with a smooth and reliable journey through Heathrow this summer,” the joint statement said. “Emirates has capped further sales on its flights out of Heathrow until mid-August to assist Heathrow in its resource ramp-up, and is working to adjust capacity.”

Emirates airline President Tim Clark has set out why he stood his ground in row with Heathrow Airport. Reuters

Heathrow blames airlines for failing to secure enough ground handlers. Emirates says its own ground-handling unit is ready and blames the problems on central staff shortages at Heathrow.

"Heathrow is well-prepared for this summer," an airport spokesman said. "We started recruiting security officers in November last year and will soon have as many people in security as in summer 2019.

"The fact that Heathrow’s cap is 50 per cent higher than a similar cap at Amsterdam, our nearest rival, shows how much better we have planned than our competitors.”

Decades of flight: Heathrow through the years - in pictures

Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

The arrivals and departures board in 1960

A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022