Earlier this month, Heathrow introduced a 100,000 passenger-a-day cap, which will remain in place until at least 11 September, although it is feared capacity at the airport could remain capped until the end of October.
It also told carriers to stop selling new tickets for flights departing up to and on 11 September.
“Our assessment is that the maximum number of daily departing passengers that airlines, airline ground handlers and the airport can collectively serve over the summer is no more than 100,000," said Heathrow in an open letter on 12 July.
"The latest forecasts indicate... daily departing seats over the summer will average 104,000 – giving a daily excess of 4,000 seats. On average, only about 1,500 of these 4,000 daily seats have currently been sold to passengers so we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers.”
Emirates initially rejected the request, branding it "unreasonable and unacceptable" after Heathrow gave airlines 36 hours to comply – a figure Emirates said had been "plucked from thin air".
However, earlier this week, following a meeting between Emirates president Sir Tim Clark and Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye, Emirates said it was ready and willing to work with Heathrow to alleviate the situation, adding it had capped further sales on its flights "until mid-August".
On Friday (22 July), Emirates announced it would temporarily increase the frequency of its services to and from Gatwick with the introduction of a third daily flight operating from 27 July through to 3 August.
’Operational pressures’
"This third daily flight will help serve high demand from customers travelling to and from London this summer," said Emirates. "It will also provide additional seats to accommodate Emirates passengers affected by capacity adjustments on flights from London Heathrow, which will be made to help ease operational pressures at the airport.
"Emirates’ customers impacted by capacity adjustments at London Heathrow will be contacted directly by the airline or their travel agent. The airline is working closely with its travel partners to re-accommodate any impacted bookings and ensure smooth onward flight connections for customers to reach their planned destination."
Emirates will use a wide-body three-class Boeing 777 aircraft to operate the additional flights, which will arrive and depart Gatwick in the morning. It will continue to operate six daily flights to and from Heathrow, and will restart daily Stansted services on 1 August.
"Emirates is grateful for the support of London Gatwick Airport, along other partners on the ground who have been working closely with the airline to secure sufficient ground handling resources to deal with the additional demand, and provide passengers with a smooth and reliable journey," Emirates added.
