Ships to France are in turmoil amid the effects of the P&O redundancy scandal, airports are struggling to meet higher demand and, to limit it all, major engineering works are being planned on the railways. Here, Sky News takes a look at how every major travel area is shaped as the holiday rush accelerates. Ships The loss of many P&O Ferries services is expected to have a significant impact during the Easter season – with queues of trucks heading for Dover reportedly spanning 10 miles along the M20 in Kent on Thursday morning. Picture: Truck view in line at Brock Company on the M20 near Ashford in Kent on Thursday morning There has been a gap in capacity, especially for popular inter-channel services, since P&O found itself in hot water over its decision to lay off nearly 800 sailors via a video message last month. This is because some ships with their new crews failed security checks while others could not run. Crucially, an agreement that meant competing DFDS would carry P&O passengers was coming to an end. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 4:04 Investigations into P&O opened From Friday, its regular flights to and from Dover or Newhaven to France will not be able to carry P&O customers. The DFDS told Sky News it simply could not extend the 14-day deal because its ships were already full. “As we look towards the weekend and Easter, we have very high levels of bookings, which unfortunately means that we will not have any excess capacity available for other companies. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:32 P&O Chief: Difficult “but necessary decision” “Of course we will do everything we can off-peak weekends to reach as many P&O customers as possible.” The announcement added: “We are adding additional routes where we can, and we have also been able to transfer some traffic to our new unaccompanied route from Sheerness to Calais to help alleviate congestion in and around the port.” P&O Ferries said it was preparing to resume operations on “a number of vital routes”, adding that it was working with regulators to ensure that ships were safe to sail. Two of the ships – the Pride of Kent and the Spirit of Britain – are expected to be ready to sail between Dover and Calais by next week, subject to a regulatory note. The European Causeway is also expected to sail between Larne and Cairnryan, along with the Pride Of Hull between Hull and Rotterdam, the company claimed. A spokesman said: “For those customers who are still affected by the wider disturbance, we provide refunds to all passengers who have booked to travel with us and to whom we have not been able to provide alternative services. “Customers can contact our customer service team via email or phone for a refund. Anyone who has canceled their P&O trip will also receive a free trip which will be used on a future trip with us, which can be made later. within the year. “ Picture: The Eurotunnel’s Easter holiday season began last week Eurostar and Getlink, which owns Eurotunnel, are under pressure. A Getlink spokesman said: “We have very high bookings for next weekend and next in our passenger service and bookings are still flowing. “We will make up to four departures per hour at peak times to ensure that everyone can travel. “Our lorry buses also run at very high volumes, with additional departures available to carry the extra traffic.” It added: “The traffic jam in Kent at the moment is the result of the absence of three P&O vessels from the short strait during the busiest period of canal traffic since 2019.” Strong winds are said to have added to the delays in Dover on Thursday. Airports Disturbances at airports and airlines were a topic last week as the Easter holidays began in some parts of the country and for many private schools. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:15 Queues at Manchester Airport Security The main issue is that of staffing, with both being clearly unable to handle the rise in demand they saw ahead of Easter following the pandemic damage to employment in the industry. The number of passengers at airports will increase this weekend and next week, although the industry agency AOA has not yet been able to estimate the numbers expected when it was notified by Sky News. The escalating efforts to hire new employees and resolve queues – which have hit Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham airports – are delays in security clearance procedures to operate “airports”. Understandably, it currently takes up to six months to complete. Additional police have been called in to help deal with the queues and potentially casualties at Manchester Airport, which has endured some of the worst queues. Some airlines that operate there offer vacationers the opportunity to check their luggage the night before their flight. The lack of Border Force personnel has also been pointed out by airports as a worsening of passenger delays, with some people leaving because they do not have the proper COVID-19 documentation for their destination. A spokesman for the UK’s largest airport, Heathrow, told Sky News he was developing as much staff as possible to help deal with the rush. “The Easter holidays are the first time that travel restrictions in the UK have been completely lifted since the start of the pandemic and we are expecting passenger numbers that we have not seen since the beginning of March 2020. “We have been preparing for this for many months, but like most airports, we expect the travel experience to last a little longer during peak times.” Airlines Their efforts to get back on track have been hampered by COVID infections among staff – it hit easyJet the worst last week with dozens of flights being canceled daily. Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:24 ‘Perfect storm’ hits UK airports and airlines British Airways has canceled a handful of flights due to staff illness, but the wider departure situation is complicated by destinations affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID lockdowns in places like China. Its downsizing plans also reflect struggles to fix disruptive IT systems – worst of all in February – with its flight schedule reduced to the end of May while “restructuring” operational resilience. Advice for passengers is to check which COVID-19 licenses you may need for your destination before arriving at the airport and allow plenty of time to clear check-in and security to avoid disappointment. Rail A feature of Easter travel is that going by train is never easy. Network Rail has traditionally used vacation, away from peak travel demand, for essential maintenance and has identified three major projects that will disrupt passenger travel. The West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central will be closed throughout the Easter weekend. Customers planning trips between London Euston and Scotland are advised to travel on both sides of the weekend. He warned that this would affect Liverpool and Manchester City football fans who will travel to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday 16 April and Manchester City fans who will travel to the Vitality Cup semi-final. Picture: Diogo Jota and Fambino celebrate with Jürgen Klopp after beating Nottingham Forest to reach the FA Cup semi-finals No South African service will be able to operate to and from London Victoria, with most trains being diverted to London Bridge. There will be no direct trains between London and Stansted Airport this Easter, with buses replacing Stansted Express trains between Waltham Cross and Airport. Road Rising fuel prices are not expected to deter many families who are desperate to reconnect after the end of COVID restrictive measures. The search by car groups for the numbers that are expected to hit the streets this Easter weekend is not expected until next week, but it is already clear that the start of the school holidays will be very busy. The RAC estimates that 20.8 million leisure trips will be made by drivers this weekend alone. A survey of 1,435 driver designs shows that Saturday is likely to see the highest numbers on the roads. National Highways urged motorists to plan their trips in advance, adding that long-distance road projects are not expected to cause more disruption than is seen on a typical Friday peak. He added that some works will be suspended in time for the Easter weekend.
