Heathrow airport has appointed a senior executive to rebuild relations with airlines following a tempestuous summer marred by travel disruption.
The UK’s busiest airport has moved director of operations Kathryn Leahy to a newly created role of director of “Team Heathrow”, a body that brings together all companies working at the airport including airlines and ground handlers.
“If we have learnt one thing this year it’s that we are only successful if we come together as a team,” Heathrow’s chief operating officer Emma Gilthorpe told staff in an email.
About 70,000 people work at Heathrow during peak season, but only 10 per cent are employed by the airport itself. Instead, its operations are dependent on a web of companies, ranging from airlines to ground handlers and caterers, as well as Border Force officials.
“We will only build a better understanding of the ecosystem and the many constituent parts if we give it some top quality focus,” the email said.
Heathrow has regularly clashed with its airline customers over how much it should charge in landing fees, but rows over the day-to-day operations of the hub are rare.
The creation of the new role is an indication that Heathrow’s senior management is keen to move on from a difficult summer that saw the airport impose an unprecedented passenger cap on airlines to combat last-minute disruption and delays because of staff shortages.
The imposition of the cap, which is set to be lifted at the end of this month, led to a furious row with some airlines, who objected to being forced to disrupt passengers’ journeys at short notice.
Some airline bosses said they were blindsided by the decision, notably Emirates, which publicly rebuked the move as “airmageddon”.
Heathrow hit back at airlines, blaming them for not having enough ground handlers to operate their flights.
Three UK aviation executives said they believed the dispute with Emirates could have been avoided if Heathrow had clearly communicated its plans with Emirates management in Dubai.
The airport recently said it was in talks with airlines over a more flexible passenger cap which could be reintroduced during busy periods.
The friction over operations this year compounded a long-running commercial disagreement over whether Heathrow should be allowed to raise its landing charges to recoup some of the losses suffered in the pandemic.
The Civil Aviation Authority, the sector regulator, instead proposed that Heathrow should slightly lower its per passenger charge as the industry recovers, following a high-profile airline backlash.