Grand Saps, transport secretary, said Wednesday he expected this weekend to be “extremely busy” as people take advantage of Covid’s loose travel restrictions to travel. The four-day weekend marks the first official holiday since the lifting of all restrictions at the UK’s Covid border last month and the start of the spring and summer peak season. However, there is also the possibility of significant delays and disruptions, both this weekend and in the coming weeks, as the rapid recovery in travel demand has come with many companies still understaffed by the onset of the pandemic and a new wave of Covid – 19 infections causing further labor shortages. “For the first time. . . “The British can travel much more freely than other nations because we have no restrictions on Covid now,” Saps told BBC radio. Drivers have been warned to expect record traffic, and disruptions are also expected on railways, airports and the English Channel ports. Some of the worst problems in recent weeks have occurred at airports, where management has struggled to recruit enough staff to cope with the increase in passengers. Manchester Airport, which has recently seen huge queues during busy hours, has told passengers to arrive three hours before their flights and wait in queues for up to 90 minutes at safety. Manchester Airport warns passengers to wait in long queues © Peter Byrne / PA EasyJet and British Airways have also canceled hundreds of flights between them in recent weeks due to staff shortages. More than 9,000 flights are scheduled to take off from UK airports between April 15 and April 18, almost 80% of pre-pandemic levels, according to data provider Cirium. Tui, Europe’s largest holiday company, said it had sent warning emails to customers traveling from Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, telling them to check in at least an hour earlier than usual for small and large flights. distances. Some customers, seeing headlines about travel chaos at airports, showed up six hours earlier, he said. The company has not canceled any flights, but said some were delayed due to protesters blocking fuel from arriving at airports and finding a crew on standby to cover Covid’s absences. Flights for flights departing from the UK were 98%, Tui said, and bookings were higher than for Easter 2019. Saps said he was “very concerned” that airports, airlines and ports were “ensuring they would return to power quickly” after tens of thousands of staff were laid off during the pandemic. “We have been warning them for a long time that they will have to prepare again. “I am very willing to make sure they do everything possible to manage a very busy weekend,” he said. Airlines and airports are struggling to recruit thousands of staff, but have warned that it will take much longer than usual for staff to undergo background checks required by the government. Shapps said it was expecting a major upheaval at Dover Harbor, “no thanks” to P&O Ferries, which could not sail between Dover and Calais for almost a month after work stopped in March to lay off its crews and replace with cheaper workers. . P&O had hoped to resume on time for the Easter weekend, but shipping inspectors this week seized a second of two ferries bound for the Dover-Calais route. Both ships have now been seized, with no new inspections required. Drivers planning to cross the English Channel have been warned by National Highways, which manages England’s major roads, to prepare for protracted delays, with Logistics UK saying this week that hundreds of truck drivers were waiting to cross the continent. were stuck without access to basic services, food and water. “We need to see a rapid recovery of full ferry capacity before the weekend,” the group said. Meanwhile, motorists across the UK have been warned to prepare for the worst Easter holiday traffic recorded by the RAC car group. Drivers plan about 21.5 million leisure car trips over the weekend, the company said, most since it began monitoring the data in 2014. The delays caused by the accumulated demand for travel are expected to be exacerbated by the planned engineering works on parts of the railway network, which will lead more people to their cars.

“It’s very likely this weekend will be one of the busiest leisure trips in years,” said Rod Dennis of RAC. Network Rail, the owner of the UK’s railway infrastructure, is carrying out 530 upgrades this Easter and has advised football fans traveling from north-west England to London for the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Manchester United. “Unfortunately, this year there is a conflict between us. . . “and the FA Cup semi-finals, and unfortunately these projects can not be postponed as they would waste millions of pounds in taxpayer money and cause further unnecessary inconvenience to passengers,” said Dave Penney, chief executive of Network Rail. Staff absences due to Covid could also contribute to the disruption. Most train operators reported good service this week, and industry groups said they did not expect widespread illness. But Transpennine Express and Greater Anglia have both introduced modified schedules to help them cope with staff absences. Additional report by Jennifer Williams in Manchester