Birmingham Airport queues and delays set to continue as more flights cancelled across UK

More than 1,000 UK flights have been axed in recent days due to crews being off sick amid a rise in coronavirus cases.

Birmingham Airport has so far escaped any cancellations but has been hit by long queues for passengers waiting to get through security and collect their luggage.

Industry experts said airlines and airports are struggling because of the number of job cuts made during the pandemic.

Birmingham is in the midst of a recruitment drive. It has held two jobs fairs in recent months in a bid to attract new staff with another lined up for June 23.

However passengers and crew arriving at the airport have faced long waits to get off their planes into arrivals, where they have then had to wait two hours or longer for bags to be moved onto carousels.

Harry Leather, group digital editor at the Midland News Association, was among those affected by the delays when he arrived in Birmingham from Amsterdam on Sunday evening.

"We landed on time but then didn't get out of the airport until nearly three hours after touching down as a result of the lack of staff," he explained.

"It took more than half an hour for us to be able to exit the plane, with the captain expressing his frustration on the intercom and stressing to passengers that the delay was entirely due to the airport and not the airline. He was just as annoyed as everyone on board.

"We then had to wait two hours for our suitcase to arrive in the baggage hall. Ironically the only information available about how long it would take was a sign boasting about how fast the average luggage arrival time is.

"It was boring and annoying but at least we didn't have any urgent appointments to get to - and it was far worse for the poor families trying to keep young tired children entertained."

Meanwhile passengers have reported waits of more than an hour to reach security, with long queues forming early in the morning just to scan boarding passes and join the next line for security scanning.

An airport spokesperson said: “Customers are moving steadily through the airport today. Average wait times for security this morning were between 10 and 15 minutes.

“We’d ask all customers travelling to ‘help us help you’ to keep queues moving by presenting compliant baggage – removing liquids and electrical items – at the security scanners.”

Aviation data firm Cirium said 1,143 UK flights were cancelled last week, compared with just 197 during the same period in 2019.

The vast majority of last week's cancellations were by easyJet and British Airways.

The rate of staff absences at easyJet is around double normal levels.

Some 60 of its flights scheduled for Tuesday were cancelled.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: "EasyJet will operate the vast majority of its 1,525 flights today with a small proportion cancelled in advance to give customers the ability to rebook on to alternative flights.

"We are sorry for any inconvenience for affected customers."

After cancelling 62 flights due to operate on Monday, the Luton-based carrier warned it expects to make "similar levels of pre-emptive cancellations over the coming days, due to the ongoing high level of sickness".

British Airways announced last month that it had reduced its schedule until the end of May due to rising Covid-19 cases.

It cancelled at least 98 flights to or from Heathrow on Tuesday.

That figure includes routes suspended for several months because of the pandemic, such as those featuring some Asian destinations.

Passengers at Heathrow and Manchester airports, as well as Birmingham, have also reported long queues in recent days.

Management at Manchester Airport met political leaders and unions on Tuesday after weeks of chaos for travellers.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, was in talks with airport bosses to discuss the "concerning" situation with union officials also set to discuss pay and conditions.

Travellers have faced long delays and chaotic scenes with queues trailing outside terminals to reach check-in and hordes of people waiting to get through security and to pick up luggage.

Piles of suitcases have been left in terminals after travellers abandoned the wait to reclaim their baggage and instead left for home.

The airport, along with much of the aviation industry, has struggled to recruit staff made redundant after the pandemic shutdown airports and travel.

The disruption is affecting many families heading abroad for the school Easter holiday, which is the first since the UK's coronavirus restrictions for international travellers were dropped.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: "This is a staggering level of flight cancellations caused by a cocktail of not having enough staff in place and Covid-induced staff shortages.

"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."

Aviation consultant John Strickland, of JLS Consulting, told the PA news agency last week that British Airways has "staff shortage issues coming out of the pandemic, and I know definitely that's something which is going to be more widespread with airlines because of the number of people who were let go".

Analysis by the London-based World Travel and Tourism Council published in December 2021 warned that one in eight UK travel and tourism jobs would be unfilled entering this year, with 205,000 vacant roles.

It claimed staff shortages could have an "enormous impact" on the UK's economic recovery from the pandemic.