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Manchester Airport boss warns long security queues will ‘continue for weeks’
Some passengers have been stuck in security queues for three hours
Passengers at Manchester Airport will continue to experience lengthy queues for ‘several weeks’ as its boss admits to massive staff shortages.
Karen Smart, managing director of Manchester Airport, said the airport is on a ‘major recruitment drive’ to bring the long waiting times to an end, and are even looking to ‘work with universities’ to find temporary hires.
She said: “We want to apologise to all our customers who have experienced disruption over the last couple of weeks.
“We want to be clear with our customers that getting back to full strength is going to take time and there will unfortunately be periods over the next few weeks when it will take longer to get through the airport than it should.”
Last week, frustrated travellers took to social media to show the lengthy queues at the airport, with some snaking an alleged 200 metres out of the main doors at Terminal One.
Other passengers also reported having to queue for up to three hours, as well as delayed flights as a result of the long waiting times at security.
Read More: Manchester Airport apologises for huge three-hour long queues that led to missed flights
Sharing an image of the queues, Andy Mitten, from the United We Stand fanzine, tweeted: “Huge queues once again at @manairport. “This is for security at T1. It snakes for 200 metres outside the terminal.”
In a follow up tweet, Mitten wrote: “Three hour 10 min queue for security. Loads missed flights. It’s not a one off at @manairport this – look at my timeline.
“Pilot decided to wait an extra hour so I made flight. He’s waiting on 112 passengers. The happy Atletico fans have already boarded. Just to rub it in.”
He added: “Surely Manchester airport is one of the most chaotic in the world. This place is never enjoyable.”
Officials at the airport responded to the footage, issuing an apology and putting the long queues down to a ‘combination of factors’, including an unexpected number of passengers and a high amount of bags being rejected at security.
There, they also said the longer waiting times were expected to continue and advised people to arrive as early as possible for flights.