Staff illness and staff shortages have already wreaked havoc on airline passengers, with airlines cancel dozens of flights in the short term and ferry companies finding it difficult to meet demand as P&O Ferries remain suspended. . Travelers have been informed that they are experiencing bank holiday weekend delays and may even have difficulty getting to their destination, regardless of the way they travel, amid extensive closure of the rail network and forecasts of “huge vehicle launches” on motorways. Easter weekend is the first public holiday since the lifting of almost all Covid travel restrictions, and traditionally marks the beginning of the busiest spring and summer season. Transport Secretary Grand Saps told the BBC he would be “extremely busy on our roads, possibly in our ports, especially in Dover”. Network Rail, which owns and operates the British railways, has advised passengers to travel on both sides of the weekend as it closes parts of the system for engineering work. Trains running on the main west coast line, which connects London with Scotland, will start and end at Milton Keynes from Friday 15 to Monday 18 April, while Euston station in north London will also be closed. Sections of the railway between Birmingham International Station and Coventry will also be closed, as will the lines around Crewe Station. The closure of the tracks will affect tens of thousands of Liverpool and Manchester City football fans traveling to Wembley Stadium in London to watch their teams play in the FA Cup semi-final. A crowd of 90,000 is expected, but the FA has advised ticket holders not to take the train from the northwest. The Football Association announced that it was chartering 100 buses from Anfield and the Etihad Stadium to carry up to 5,000 fans from each club. A spokesman said about 2,000 seats were still available on the buses for Liverpool fans. Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy recently told members of parliament’s transport committee that the FA had scheduled the men’s and women’s races in the capital, despite ample warning of railway closures. “Network Rail told the FA in 2019 that we were closing the West Coast main line, however it seems that they arranged a football match between Manchester and Liverpool at Wembley on a day when we essentially alerted the world two years to close. “, Said Heidi. Subscribe to the daily Business Today email or follow the Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk Airline passengers have faced long queues at terminals to clear security in recent weeks, while thousands of passengers flying from Manchester Airport have lost their flights as a result. It came after the increase in passengers coincided with high staff turnover rates with Covid, and a wider shortage of workers after many were laid off during the pandemic. Manchester Airport has warned passengers that they will continue to wait up to 90 minutes to pass through safety, while some disruption is also expected for those flying from Birmingham, as well as Heathrow and Gatwick. “I will be surprised if there are no further difficulties,” said Wayne King, the regional coordinator of the Unite union. “Whenever there is a school holiday, it will peak because there will simply be no staff.” Shapps said he was concerned that airlines and airport and port operators needed to “ensure they return to power quickly” following large-scale layoffs during the Covid crisis. “We have been warning them for a long time that they will have to prepare again.” Travelers may also find it difficult to get to the airport. The London Underground Piccadilly line will not serve any of Heathrow’s terminals at the weekend, and there will be fewer trains stopping at Gatwick due to work at the station. Pressure on ferry companies in Dover and Eurotunnel services is unlikely to ease in time for the weekend, after another P&O Ferries ship was unveiled on Wednesday after inspectors identified “a number of shortcomings”. Two of P & O’s Dover ships, which usually sail to Calais five times a day, are being investigated by the Shipping and Coast Guard. Long-distance freight queues and holidaymakers hoping to cross the English Channel have caused congestion among residents and businesses in Kent. Drivers in other parts of the country may also experience congestion at the weekend. Drivers are expected to make more than 21 million leisure trips by car this weekend, according to estimates by the RAC, which said it was the highest number of Easter vacations since tracking began in 2014. The motorist predicts that Good Friday will be the busiest day of the weekend. “We expect to see huge increases in traffic and delays around airports and highways. “Over the weekend, many drivers tried to anticipate the rush and we saw a 27% increase in mileage on the Waze compared to pre-Covid driving levels,” said Ru Roberts, Waze UK’s director of navigation. Roberts added that traffic could also be affected by drivers looking for competitively priced fuel or courtyards unaffected by the disruption as a result of Just Stop Oil protesters blocking oil terminals.
