The head of Manchester Airport in northwest
England said passengers could face waits of up to 90 minutes to get through
security “over the next few months.”
Travelers in Britain have suffered days of
delays during the current Easter school holiday break, with British Airways and
easyJet canceling hundreds of flights because of coronavirus-related staff
absences, and long lines building at airport check-in, security and baggage
points.
Manchester, Heathrow and Birmingham
airports have all experienced problems, stemming from a mix of staff off sick
with COVID-19 and from trouble replacing workers laid off during the pandemic,
when international travel ground to a halt.
The managing director of Manchester Airport
resigned this week. Charlie Cornish, chief executive of owner Manchester
Airports Group, acknowledged that the airport does not have “the number of
staff we need to provide the level of service that our passengers deserve.”
“Despite our efforts since last autumn, the
tight labor market around the airport has meant we have just not been able to
hire people quickly enough to establish a full-strength team,” he said.
He said departing passengers should arrive
three hours before their flights to be sure of having enough time.
Civil Aviation Authority Chief Executive
Richard Moriarty told airlines they must set “deliverable” schedules and “have
the necessary level” of staff.
In a letter, he said the delays and
cancelations were “not just distressing for affected consumers but have the
potential to impact confidence levels across the industry.”
EasyJet said earlier this week that the
number of crew illnesses was more than double normal levels because of high
COVID-19 infection rates across Europe.
British Airways said many of its
cancellations include flights that were cut when it decided last month to
shorten its schedule until the end of May to boost reliability amid rising
COVID-19 cases.
Infections across the U.K. have soared
again with the rapid spread of the more transmissible omicron BA.2 variant, reaching
record levels last week when official figures showed about 1 in 13 people had
the virus.
The Easter school holidays are the first
time many families in Britain have booked trips abroad after two years of
pandemic restrictions. All remaining virus measures, including mandatory
self-isolation for those infected and testing requirements for international
travel, were scrapped in February and March.
Traffic also has been snarled at the
English Channel port of Dover after P&O Ferries suspended sailings to
France after firing almost 800 crew members without notice to replace them with
cheaper contract staff. The move sparked a standoff with the British
government, which is demanding P&O reverse the sackings.
The company is refusing to budge. It said
it was ready to resume trips on the Dover-Calais route by next week, “subject
to regulatory sign-off.”
Other ferry operators say their boats are
full, and miles-long queues of thousands of trucks have built up over the past
week outside Dover, one of the U.K.’s busiest ports for both passengers and
freight. -AP