Emergency laryngectomy is a laryngectomy carried out for malignant obstruction of the upper airway within 24 h of admission. This combines relief of the obstruction with definitive primary cancer surgery, and is thought to reduce the risk of post‐laryngectomy stomal recurrence. During a 5‐year period, 13 patients with upper airway obstruction from squamous cell carcinoma were treated in two departments by emergency laryngectomy. Total laryngectomy was carried out after the diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx (n = 11), or piriform fossa (n = 2), had been confirmed by laryngoscopy and frozen section biopsy. The actuarial 5‐year survival was 47%, and no patient in this series developed stomal recurrence. The management of the airway obstruction, and the post‐laryngectomy complications, did not differ from those encountered with more conventional treatment. Our experience with this approach suggests that emergency laryngectomy is a satisfactory method of managing airway obstruction due to squamous cell carcinoma of the