Manchester Airport boss QUITS over chaos caused by staff shortages

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A Manchester Airport boss has tonight dramatically quit amid a growing backlash following weeks of huge passenger queues, cancelled and missed flights, and growing calls from furious local leaders for police to urgently tackle the carnage.

Karen Smart has resigned as managing director of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, after just two years in the post, the company confirmed this afternoon. She will be replaced by Ian Costigan, a spokesman added.

Manchester, the UK’s third busiest airport, has been mired in chaos in recent weeks, with massive security queues forming as early as 4.45am and travellers missing flights due to a sudden surge in passenger numbers following two years of on-off lockdowns and ‘staff shortages and recruitment challenges’. 

Airport management are due to meet political leaders and unions to discuss the ongoing situation, after Blackley and Broughton MP Graham Stringer yesterday furiously challenged Manchester’s management to ‘get a grip or get out’.

And unions are warning that the carnage is set to go on throughout the summer because of the delays in processing counter-terror checks needed for new airport staff, with some said to be taking 30 weeks instead of the usual 14 to 15 while civil servants WFH.

MAG chief executive Charlie Cornish said: ‘Over the last two years, Karen has guided Manchester Airport through the most challenging period of its 84-year history, having made a major contribution to MAG throughout her time with the business.

‘I am sorry to lose Karen after her years of valuable service, but also understand her desire to return to the South for family reasons and indeed to explore new career opportunities.

‘While there are sure to be further challenges ahead, I am confident we will soon start to see the benefits of the recovery plans Karen has helped put in place and look forward to working with Ian and his leadership team to drive them forward.’

Earlier today, passengers at Manchester were spotted jumping over barriers and abandoning their luggage in a desperate attempt to make their flights, according to Nicky Kelvin, head of travel website Points Guy UK.

Meanwhile at Heathrow, a male passenger in his early 30s collapsed while queueing as staff shortages left people waiting four hours to clear passport control. 

Eyewitness Jessica Oliver told MailOnline: ‘I just walked past and he was on the floor. There were people helping him – I don’t know if it was dehydration or very low blood sugar, but it’s very hot and staff are handing out water bottles. It was also chaotic at Amsterdam, but I’ve never seen anything like this.’

The man’s current condition is unknown and Heathrow Airport has been contacted for an update.

Travellers also took to social media this afternoon to share photos of huge queues stretching up to four hours long, with one person writing: ‘Chaos at Heathrow Airport arrivals. Some people have been standing here for the past four hours and the queues are not moving. What is causing the disruption?’.

Another passenger added: ‘Three hour plus clearing immigrations wait at Terminal 3 for under two hours European flight!! Still nowhere near through. No one giving any updates!’. 

And while sat in Terminal 5 at Heathrow, Hannah Swales told MailOnline about her ‘shambolic’ return flight from Dubai. She said: ‘We were delayed from Dubai for three hours and then had to be rebooked on the “next available flight”. We were to stay in Heathrow Airport with no luggage and no access to medication in our luggage.’

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: ‘Airlines are certainly seeing a high level of demand to fly, but are simply unable to cope with that demand due to a lack of resources. It’s a nightmare situation for airlines and airports at the moment.’

Martin Chalk, general secretary of the pilots’ union Balpa, also told The Telegraph: ‘The chaos witnessed at British airports may well be repeated throughout the summer because airlines, laden with debt… have not yet rehired enough staff.’

The rise in bookings is overtaking the number of airline staff being hired, which is being further exacerbated by security checks.

An industry source further blamed the vetting process, saying it can take up to six months before someone is able to come in and do a job at an airport.

But a spokesperson for the Department for Transport (DfT) contended the ‘aviation industry is responsible for resourcing at airports’, adding: ‘They manage their staff absences, although we want to see minimal disruption for passengers during the Easter period.

‘The requirement for Counter Terrorist Checks for aviation security staff is important for the protection of the travelling public and the Government continues to process these security clearances in a timely manner.’

There were also reports of travel chaos at Heathrow and Gatwick airports on Monday, as well as long delays at Dover and a train blockage in the Channel Tunnel.

Heathrow warned passengers of possible delays earlier today, tweeting: ‘We continue to advise passengers arrive 3 hours prior to their scheduled departure time as we are not able to estimate queue times ahead of journeys, due to them being influenced by a significant range of factors.’

Long queues were also reported at Birmingham Airport from 7.45am today, with one passenger warning others to ‘get here early’. Another traveller, Luka Beckett, said she was ‘trapped’ on a grounded plane for 40 minutes on Sunday due to a lack of staff.

She told Birmingham Live: ‘We should have been home at around 10pm, but got in sometime after midnight. It was horrific.’ 

Speaking yesterday, Mr Burnham added: ‘Can we work with our fire service and police service to do a little more to help the airport manage some of the pressures that it has? All of that will be discussed tomorrow.’ 

EasyJet said it has cancelled around 60 flights to and from the UK on Tuesday after calling off 62 flights on Monday due to high levels of staff absences. BA also grounded a total of 62 flights on Monday.

This follows a week of reported mass disruption with more than 1,100 flights cancelled throughout the UK.  In the week up to April 3, a total of 1,143 flights were cancelled from and to the UK compared with just 197 flights cancelled the same week in 2019. 

The latest figures show British Airways cancelled 662 flights while easyJet axed 357 last week, according to data from Cirium, which carries out aviation analysis. 

But some of these totals are based on historical cancellations and were flights axed months ago while airlines have claimed they represent a small percentage of their total flights. 

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Mr Stringer, the former leader of Manchester Council and chairman of the airport board, said: ‘Covid has made life difficult for everyone in the aviation industry. The way to respond to that is by good employment procedures and not by casualisation, effectively using fire and rehire. The airport needs to reset and pay above the market rate to stabilise the situation and give confidence to employees and the travelling public.’  

On Monday, Manchester Airport chiefs apologised for ‘falling short’ following long delays over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, pictures showed long queues at Heathrow, with airport bosses blaming a huge spike in passenger numbers. Heathrow chiefs say passenger numbers have now reached pre-pandemic levels, with Saturday being the first school holidays since the start of the pandemic with no travel restrictions in place in England.

Bosses at Gatwick also said passengers numbers were returning to 2019 levels at the Sussex airport and that while there were some check-in queues that it was generally ‘coping well’ with the increase in footfall. 

One travel expert estimated that there had ‘probably been more resignations in the last three months’ than during the Covid crisis because staff were ‘worn out’. Another warned disruption at airports such as Manchester could last for ‘months’, with firms having to train new staff to deal with the post-Covid increase in demand. 

Bosses of the company behind Manchester Airport, which is in the same group as Stansted and East Midlands Airport, said it had seen a 1,300 percent increase increase in passenger numbers in February – compared to the previous year when the country was in lockdown.

Pictures taken at Manchester Airport on Monday showed long queues of people attempting to get through to security. Passengers also bemoaned a lack of organisation at the check-in, with long queues also seen at the check-in desk. In a tongue-in-cheek Twitter post, one frustrated traveller described a snaking queue at the airport as a world record attempt at the ‘world’s slowest, longest conga line’.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Manchester Airport apologises to passengers whose experiences have fallen below the standard we aim to provide. We want to assure customers and colleagues that their safety and security will always be our first priority.

‘Our whole industry is facing staff shortages and recruitment challenges at present, after the most damaging two years in its history. The removal of all travel restrictions after two years, coupled with the start of the summer travel season, has seen a rapid increase in passenger numbers, which is putting an enormous strain on our operation.

‘We are doing all we can to recruit the staff we need to meet this demand, but this is taking time due to the lengthy vetting and training processes involved. That is why we have been advising travellers that there may be, at times, longer queues than normal.

‘Whenever this is the case, we do all we can to redeploy resources and prioritise passengers within queues as best we can.

‘We are also aware that partners working on our site, such as baggage handling agents, are facing similar challenges. We will continue to support them in any way we can to deliver the best possible experience for customers during this challenging time.’ 

BA also cancelled at least 115 flights to or from Heathrow Airport on Monday, although it is believed only five were last-minute cancellations caused by coronavirus-related staff shortages – meaning passengers would have been informed well in advance of the cancellation.

The total includes some flights axed due to last week’s decision by the airline to reduce its schedule until the end of May to boost reliability, as well as routes suspended for several months because of the pandemic, such as those featuring several Asian destinations.

According to MailOnline’s analysis, at least five BA flights to European destinations, including Paris, Marseille and Oslo, were cancelled from Heathrow Terminal 5 on Monday. 

It comes after the west-London airport faced its own chaos last week, after a major BA IT meltdown forced the airline to cancel or delay hundreds of flights. Meanwhile, BA has been accused of raising prices to ‘put off’ customers, with return flights to some European destinations costing as much as £1,000.

Away from airports, drivers hoping to cross the Channel fared little better on Monday, with two-hour waits to get into the Port of Dover. Gridlocked traffic around Dover, poor conditions in the Channel and the suspension of P&O services caused delays of up to nine hours at the Kent port over the weekend.

Eurotunnel services, meanwhile, were also delayed by up to three hours due to a train that came to a halt in the Channel Tunnel. Passenger service Eurostar, which uses the same tunnel, also reported delays on its services, according to its website.

Airport disruption, meanwhile, is being blamed on Covid-enforced staff shortages, with Manchester Airport on Sunday saying it was exploring the possibility of bringing in short-term agency staff to help bring the chaos under control.  

Though all Covid restrictions – as well as testing and self-isolation requirements – have been lifted in England, as many as 4.9 million people are now thought to be infected with the virus, according to the UK’s biggest Covid surveillance scheme.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated more than 4.1 million people had the virus on any given day over the week to March 26, equivalent to one in 13 being infected.

Passengers said they faced ‘absolute chaos’ at Manchester Airport on Monday, with long queues at security. 

One passenger, sharing a picture of the queues, said: ‘5.30am and absolute chaos in Manchester Airport. No organisation whatsoever! Lots missing flights.’  

Another, sharing a video, said: ‘Manchester Airport. This is the current line for security at Terminal 2 this morning. What is happening?’. 

Linn Glotta-Bogerud, arrived five hours early for her flight to Norway, but has managed to avoid the worst of the queues.

She told MailOnline: ‘I got here early after seeing the news about the queues. Now I’m just waiting around.

‘This is definitely not what I expected. I arrived here at 10am, for a flight that leaves at 3.30pm.

‘They don’t open the gate until three hours before the flight leaves, so now I’m just waiting around, but some of the queues look crazy.

‘There’s a lot of security around but some of them don’t seem to have much to do.’

Another, Howie Atkinson, 42, who is flying with his wife Gair and daughter Isla to Dubai.

He told MailOnline: ‘Over the weekend a friend sent me a news story with a picture of the queues, so I changed it to an earlier one. The queues are massive, so I’m glad we’re here early.’ 

Stephen O’Naill, 37 and Lee Moora, 34, flew to Manchester from Belfast on Saturday to see the Manchester United match.

Stephen said: ‘We’re with easyJet, who recommended we get here early. We’re about seven hours early for our flight.

‘We saw on Facebook that they’ve had 100s of flights canceled.’

It comes after shocking images showed huge disruption at Manchester Airport over the weekend.

On Twitter, one user posted on Sunday: ‘Manchester Airport not ideal as it’s so busy. 

‘Well done as it’s organised and amazing staff are smiling through abuse and announcements etc…

‘Gutted about our fast track passes and not being able to use them.’

A Manchester Airport spokesperson admitted the airport was short-staffed. In a statement on Sunday, a spokesperson said: ‘We apologise to passengers whose experience at Manchester Airport has fallen short of the standards they expected.

‘As we recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, our whole industry is facing staff shortages and recruitment challenges.

‘As a result we are advising customers that security queues may be longer than usual, and we encourage them to arrive at the earliest time recommended by their airline.

‘Due to the security checks and training associated with these roles, it takes time to for people to be able to start work in our operation

‘That is why we are exploring a number of short-term measures to deliver the best possible service we can, such as the use of agency staff and different ways in which existing colleagues can support our operation.

‘We are aware similar challenges are being faced by airlines and third parties, such as baggage handling agents, operating on our site.

‘Together, we are working hard to deliver the best possible service we can in the circumstances, and to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.’

Airport insiders say the main challenge has been the ‘rapid recovery’ of international travel and that airports are ‘struggling to scale our operations back up quickly enough to keep pace with demand’.

‘New staff need to be vetted and trained so there is a bit of a lag time between appointing them and them starting work in our operation,’ one told MailOnline.

Meanwhile, easyJet cancelled around 100 flights on Monday, including 62 from the UK. The budget airline said higher than usual levels of staff absence due to Covid was to blame.

EasyJet – which is one of Europe’s biggest airlines – said the cancellations were a small part of its schedule on Monday, which is around 1,645 flights.  

But it has left passengers facing long delays. One passenger, who was due to fly from Belfast Airport with easyJet on Monday morning, said on Twitter: ‘First trip overseas since COVID. It’s going well… easyJet cancel flight at five hours notice. 

‘Result: A 10 hour delay and 2.00 am arrival in our hotel Now just been charged £14 for a pint and a G&T in the grimiest airport I’ve been in since the year dot. Sigh.’

A spokesperson for easyJet said: ‘As a result of the current high rates of Covid infections across Europe, like all businesses, easyJet is experiencing higher than usual levels of employee sickness.

‘We have focused on consolidating flights where we have multiple frequencies so customers have more options to rebook their travel, often on the same day, and we expect to make similar levels of pre-emptive cancellations over the coming days, due to the ongoing high level of sickness.

‘We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause to customers on affected flights. 

‘We are contacting customers directly and providing them with their options which include rebooking onto an alternative flight, or receiving a voucher or full refund.’ 

Meanwhile, BA cancelled at least half a dozen flights from Heathrow Terminal 5 on Monday. Flights to Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Oslo and Krakow were among those cancelled.

The airline said: ‘Aviation has been one of the industries worst hit by the pandemic, and airlines and airports are experiencing the same issues rebuilding their operations while managing the continuing impact of Covid.

‘So while the vast majority of our flights continue to operate as planned, as a precaution we’ve slightly reduced our schedule between now and the end of May as we ramp back up.

‘We’ve apologised to customers who are affected by this and to limit the inconvenience have re-booked them onto earlier or later flights on the same day they were originally due to travel where possible.

‘We’re also offering them the opportunity to book onto an alternative flight or request a full refund.’

Dave Dobson, 59, a psychotherapist from Chester, was one of those flying with BA on Monday. He said: ‘I was warned through Booking.com that said there would be disruption. 

‘I am anxious, worried and constantly checking for updates. My bag drop is supposed to be in 50 minutes. 

‘I booked with BA because I had a voucher and because I wanted to fly to Linate airport which is closer to the centre of Milan. There has been no direct communication from them at all which is really not good enough.’ 

Ken Dickinson, 74, a retired solicitor from Whetherby, West Yorkshire, said: ‘BA have been changing a lot of flights and when I look at my booking it says flights have been cancelled. 

‘It is ridiculous. They are not handling the situation well and have been very vague. There is no information or communication from them.’ 

A Heathrow spokesperson said: ‘The Easter holiday is the first time where UK travel restrictions have been fully removed since the start of the pandemic and we are expecting passenger numbers, not seen since early March 2020. 

‘We have been preparing for this for many months, but like most airports we do anticipate that the travel experience may take slightly longer during peak periods. 

‘We are deploying extra colleagues across Heathrow, and we continue to work closely with all our airport partners to help ensure passengers get away as efficiently as possible.’