Birmingham Airport bosses step up recruitment after queues and baggage chaos
Operations at Birmingham Airport are running steadily following reports of getaway chaos - as bosses step up efforts to recruit more staff to fill vacancies.
Earlier this week there were complaints of security delays, lost baggage, cancelled flights and long queues, prompting Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to order the airline industry to “get a grip” and to provide quick compensation to those whose half-term holidays were ruined.
Meanwhile there have been claims that passengers pretending to have mobility issues to get wheelchairs to beat the queues, led to a 20 per cent rise in demand for assistance.
As a result the airport has bought more wheelchairs and taken on extra staff to push them. Passengers with disabilities can skip queues and, for a small fee, use fast-track lanes and get help through immigration checks, customs and luggage collection.
Birmingham Airport stated: "Our operation ran steadily this morning (June 3) as we helped passengers depart from BHX. We thank customers who present compliant baggage at our flight security screening - with liquids, gels, pastes and larger electrical items removed.
"This helps us help you keep moving. It also helps our security officers in their vital task of keeping everyone safe. Once people cleared our boarding pass gate wait times for security ranged from 15 to 30 minutes.
“As always, our message to departing customers is please arrive at the airport at the time your airline advises, and help us help you keep queues moving by presenting compliant hand luggage - removing all liquids, gels, pastes and electrical items - before the security x-ray scanners.”
The airport said it began actively recruiting last November and since then had managed to increase its security team numbers by 19 per cent with an additional group of officers due to take up their new posts later this month.
In the same period the airport expanded its customer services team by 20 per cent and said its recruitment campaign is set to continue for the rest of the year with plans for a jobs fair on June 23.
Mr Shapps said that while he understood the pressure caused by a surge in post-pandemic travel demand, “it does not excuse poor planning.”
Jet2 boss Steve Heapy has been rumoured to have complained about UK jobseekers not turning up to job interviews and failing to fill in application forms correctly, while British Airways and Easyjet have called for more powers to hire visa-free workers from Europe.
The GMB union which represents airport workers has advised travellers to check in online and not to carry large bags in a bid to ease the check in process.
James Tallis, from Stourbridge, landed at Birmingham from Lanzarote without his luggage and after an almost four-hour wait was told to go home without them.
