With all parts of the UK now on Easter holiday, passengers have been asked to leave extra time to negotiate queues at airports, as high rates of Covid infections exacerbate staff shortages at check-in and security. Meanwhile, the reversals on the main roads to the English Channel are expected to intensify, as Eurotunnel expects an increase in both directions and P&O Ferries’ routes remain suspended. Passengers booked by P&O on the Dover-Calais route have been told they will not be able to travel this weekend as rival DFDS, which served P&O customers, is now fully booked. Airports are redeploying licensed office staff to front-line roles where possible to mitigate the chaotic scenes of recent days, especially at Manchester Airport. Manchester seemed to be doing slightly better on Thursday, according to passenger reports on social media, but admitted it would take some time for them to function properly. A spokesman said passengers could safely wait 60-90 minutes “in the coming months”. They recommended arriving at the airport three hours before the departure of the flight and asked passengers to make sure they were fully prepared to comply with safety rules for liquids and electrical items to minimize delays. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said this week that it would take two months for the airport to recruit enough staff and called on the government to help speed up the security clearance of new recruits. City police and transport staff will be called in to help manage queues at the local authority airport. EasyJet, which had to cancel hundreds of flights this week, said it would preemptively cancel another 50 flights a day over the weekend to minimize disruption. Large numbers of crew remain ill with Covid, affecting services in Gatwick, Luton and Manchester. However, the airline said it would continue to operate more flights than at any other time since 2019 – about 1,600 a day, 300 more than in August 2021. A larger influx of passengers returning from normal, after culminating last weekend at the start of most school holidays in the UK, could also experience queues at immigration. An Interior Ministry spokesman said passengers “could face longer waiting times than usual due to the large number of passengers and as ensuring that all passengers comply with security and immigration measures in place to keep us safe”. They added: “The number one priority of the Border Force is to maintain secure borders and we will not compromise on that. “We work closely with all UK ports and airports to ensure that passengers travel as smoothly as possible and that we continue to develop our staff with the flexibility to handle this demand.” While some companies such as Heathrow have avoided immediate mandatory redundancies among front-line staff during the pandemic, many people have left the industry in the last two years and airports are rushing to bridge the gap with renewed travel demand after latest test restrictions in the United Kingdom. March 18. The Airlines Association said the increase was welcome but challenging, with staff shortages or absences at every stage of the journey. Its CEO, Karen Dee, said: “It is wonderful to see passengers return in large numbers after an extended period of almost complete downtime. “Airports put all available staff at the forefront, including senior management and other people who typically work in different parts of the business. “This means that for most passengers, although traveling through the airport may be busy, airports safely remove them on holiday.” Dover Harbor has warned of a further busy season, as much of the city was closed last weekend as drivers tried to avoid queues for canal departures. Last weekend’s leisure traffic, with 30,000 departing passengers, was three times higher than last year, the port said. Operation Brock, the post-Brexit congestion management plan, went into effect on Thursday, closing a 23-mile stretch of the M20 to Dover to park thousands of trucks in line. P&O Ferries said it hoped to resume inter-channel services sometime next week, when it hopes to have two of its four Dover-based vessels set sail from the Shipping and Coast Guard. One ship, the Pride of Kent, was detained last week amid concerns over the readiness of its new replacement crew, following mass layoffs last month. Strong winds also affected some services last week, and freight stopped at Southampton Harbor on Thursday. AA said holiday traffic on the UK streets would peak on Good Friday and 27.6 million car journeys are expected over the Easter weekend. There will be some hassle for those who want to travel by train next weekend, as extensive engineering work by Network Rail and HS2 will close the main west coast line between London Euston and Milton Keynes.
