Qatar Airways Considers Heathrow Handler Due to Current Travel Chaos
Prior to now, Heathrow Airport decided to put a two-month limit on daily passenger traffic in place to prevent travel chaos brought on by personnel shortages in crucial sectors like ground handling.
Qatar Airways has decided to reconsider a previously planned plan to establish its own ground-handling business at the UK airport due to operational issues at London Heathrow.
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The operator of Heathrow has implemented a two-month capacity restriction to maintain daily departure passenger counts below 100,000 during the summer travel season.
Following in the footsteps of rival Emirates' sister firm, Dnata, which manages its own flights at Heathrow, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said he is "re-invigorating" the potential of establishing a service to handle Qatari aircraft.
He declares, "We'll bring our own brand." We will need to hire people and create jobs in the UK, of course.
The remarks come at a time when Heathrow is still dealing with debilitating travel congestion, which led to the decision to set a two-month ban on daily passenger volume.
This was brought on by a lack of personnel in crucial fields like ground handling.
Airlines that were compelled to cancel flights during the busiest summer period were "angry" by the action, which caused thousands of baggage to pile up at the airport.
As a result of the restriction, Qatar Airways is currently forced to lower its capacity by up to 30–40%.
As an operator, it's really challenging for me to predict how long something will take to resolve.
He asserts that the carrier is figuring out which of two mitigating strategies—a decrease in the number of seats offered or a complete withdrawal of some services—will be most successful.
"I find it sad that we were given such little notice. Airlines must get at least three months' notification before blocking the reservation system in order for us to abide by the capacity reduction.
However, bear in mind that it's having a significant financial impact on airlines, particularly at this time as the sector is still recuperating from the pandemic.
He believes that ground handlers looking for work elsewhere after the pandemic ravaged the airline business is the cause of Heathrow's employment shortfall.
But he argues that this has gotten worse as a result of the UK's "Brexit" from the European Union.
Qatar Airways operates both Boeing 777-300ERs and Airbus A380s on the Doha-Heathrow route.
Al Baker claims that when the Airbus A350s was stopped owing to a legal issue over skin paint, the "sole alternate" to locating sufficient capacity was to recommission eight of its A380s "at great cost" – using seven and keeping one as a spare.
He argues that the A380's reprieve is only short-lived.
"We need the capacity, but we will ground them as soon as I start receiving deliveries of aircraft and we have the capacity."