Dubai’s Emirates Airline said it was “surprised to be told by the British Airport Authorities (BAA) well after two of our flights on, with 900 plus passengers aboard, left Dubai that they were not going to be allowed to land as the airport will be closed for the remainder of the day.”
Tim Clark, President of Emirates airline, in an emailed statement said “this is despite the fact that we operated these flights in compliance with the BAA requirements that the airport would accept flight arrivals after 11:00 a.m. local time.” According to Clark “this has caused enormous inconvenience to the passengers affected, in addition to those who have already been stranded in the UK and Europe.” “Furthermore, Emirates has had to cancel three additional Heathrow flights today which were fully booked as people make their way home which has had the same impact on the return flights. Emirates ability to mount the extra sections required to recover the enormous back-log is very limited. Emirates will be discussing this issue with the BAA,” Emirates Airline added in the statement.
