Shropshire Star

Birmingham Airport faces bank holiday getaway rush with passengers up by almost a quarter

Birmingham Airport faces a busy bank holiday getaway this weekend with more than 100,000 passengers jetting off between today and Tuesday.

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It would be an increase of 24 per cent on last year.

Top destinations for the bank holiday period from Birmingham include Dublin, Palma, Amsterdam, Alicante and Dubai.

The terminal will be very busy, and due to ongoing security building works, customers will find themselves queuing in unfamiliar areas.

On Monday travellers faced hours of delays and some missed their flights due to technical issues with the security lanes which have since been resolved.

Due to the building works, there is a new route to security. The new queuing area for security is mainly downstairs, as a large part of the upstairs security queuing has been removed as part of the construction.

Airport teams will be on hand to assist customers throughout their journey and help with any questions.

Al Titterington, terminal operations director of Birmingham Airport, said: “It is an exciting time here at the airport as we build for our future and transition to our brand-new security area. The new area will have equipment that will ensure our customers experience a simpler and streamlined security process.

“The construction of our new security area has removed a significant area of space and that at times has been very challenging. We have worked closely with our contractors and operational teams to keep the airport operating but we know at times there have been instances where our service level has dropped below what we would aim to deliver. For those instances we apologise to our customers.

“We ask our customers to bear with us as we transition over to our new security area in which we have invested £60 million, part of a £300m investment programme of works over the next decade.”

Customers travelling with Jet2 or TUI can drop their bags off the day before. On the day of travel, they should head straight to security.

Check-in and security will be busy, customers should arrive for when their check-in opens. Each airline is different and details can be found on their booking.

Check-in zones in the terminal are: Zone A for Jet2, D for Emirates and B and C for all other airlines.

If a customer has checked in online, and has no hold baggage, then they should arrive three hours before their departure time and make their way straight to the security search area.

Liquid and electrical rules still apply. Ensure that liquids and electronics are out of bags for separate screening. All liquids, pastes and gels need to be under 100ml and in a resealable bag.