Heathrow and Manchester airports chaos: Police talks over easing misery for passengers

Manchester’s mayor asks police what help they can offer the city’s airport

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  Queues at Manchester Airport on Thursday morning. Bosses at Heathrow and Manchester airports are braced for a nightmare weekend as staff shortages look likely to hamper what is expected to be the travel industry’s busiest day of the year to date. Photo: Richard James

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  A busy Manchester Airport on Tuesday morning. Photo: Megan Thwaites / Twitter

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  Long queues of passengers snaked around Heathrow Airport in London. Photo: Jessica Oliver / Twitter

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  Manchester Airport, as seen on Monday morning, is hit by setbacks as the busy holiday season kicks off. Photo: Gareth Melling's Twitter

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  People queuing to go through security at Heathrow Terminal 2. PA

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  People queue to check-in at Heathrow Terminal 5. PA

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  One passenger at the airport said it took two hours to clear check-in at Manchester Airport. Photo: Luke Maher's Twitter

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  Queues at Manchester Airport's Terminal 2. Photo: @LancsHT/Twitter

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  Passengers queue for security screening in the departures area of Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport. Reuters

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  Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 is crammed with people Photo: Twitter

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  One passenger said it took three and a half hours to check in a single suitcase. Photo: Martin Duggan's Twitter

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  Passengers wait at border control of Heathrow Terminal 2. Photo: Martin Duggan's Twitter

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  A packed Heathrow Terminal 2 check-in hall. Photo: Twitter

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  Passengers shared photos showing corridors packed with people. Photo: Twitter

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  Arrivals queue at Heathrow Airport. Photo: Sven Kili's Twitter

Latest: Chaotic scenes at Heathrow ahead of nightmare weekend

Travellers at London’s Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport were hit by further travel misery on Tuesday, as staff shortages due to Covid-19 led to more flight cancellations and extended waiting times.

British Airways made last-minute cancellations to three flights to or from Heathrow on Tuesday owing to staff absences, a representative for the airline told The National. These were on top of about 100 cancellations made last week due to a variety of factors, including travel restrictions in Asian destinations and the airline’s pre-summer scaling back process.

At least 98 of the axed flights had been due to leave or arrive at Heathrow on Tuesday. It is estimated that about 20,000 passengers will be affected by Tuesday’s cancellations alone.

Budget carrier easyJet cancelled 60 flights to and from the UK on Monday, and a spokeswoman told The National that a similar number of trips had been axed on Tuesday owing to higher than normal sickness rates among crew members.

Passengers queue for check-in at Manchester Airport on Tuesday morning. Getty Images

“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,” the airline said in a statement. “We are sorry for any inconvenience for affected customers.”

‘Nightmare for airlines and airports’

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

The vast majority of last week’s cancellations were by easyJet and BA.

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.”

Large queues formed outside Heathrow on Tuesday morning, City AM newspaper reported, as frantic passengers took to social media to inquire about the increased waiting times.

The fast-track security service at Terminal 3 was closed on Tuesday morning, and staff said they could not say when it would be up and running again. T3 serves major airlines for long-haul travel including Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and Qantas.

Manchester Airport has also been hit by major travel disruption in recent days, and lines of passengers began forming outside terminals as early as 4.45am on Tuesday. Some people had to queue for hours for their flights on Monday and at the weekend.

The majority of schools in Britain closed for Easter holidays last Friday, prompting many families to make a dash for travel.

The airport previously apologised and said the industry was “facing staff shortages and recruitment challenges”.

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said police and firefighters could be called in to calm the chaos at the city’s airport. Mr Burnham said he would meet airport bosses to discuss the “concerning” situation.

“I have been in touch with colleagues at Greater Manchester Police at the weekend to see what we can do to support the airport,” he said.

“It’s a difficult moment for airports around the world. Having laid low for the pandemic, they’ve had to scale up very quickly. We understand the challenges that we’ve got.”

He suggested outside intervention may be required at the airport, and asked: “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?”

‘Absolute car crash over my cancelled flight and lost luggage’

Jamie Vadasz, a technical services manager from Warwickshire, was forced to return to work on Tuesday without his laptop after British Airways lost his suitcase on a flight from Hanover to Heathrow. Photo: Jamie Vadasz

Jamie Vadasz, 28, was among those caught up in the problems blighting BA on Tuesday. The technical services manager from Warwickshire, central England, had his flight from Heathrow to Hanover cancelled last Wednesday owing to an IT glitch that upended the travel plans of thousands of passengers and left some stranded for days.

After his journey was rescheduled to the following day, he enjoyed a weekend in the German city before encountering more problems on his return flight on Monday. BA misplaced his suitcase containing his work laptop, iPad and sentimental items, which meant he had to return to work on Tuesday but could not fully carry out his duties.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare,” he told The National. “My flight was cancelled and they didn’t even inform me. I found out four hours before by checking in on the app. No phone call, no email, no nothing.”

After arriving at Heathrow in the early hours of Tuesday, Mr Vadasz spent two hours speaking to BA staff to try to determine the whereabouts of his 23 kilograms of luggage.

“I had passed the point of being angry, I was too tired,” he said. “It’s not like I can let this go. It’s not money, it’s personal stuff like a present from a lost family member, a watch, my work laptop.”

After eventually giving up, he made the two-hour drive back to the West Midlands without his suitcase but with the promise that a BA supervisor would call him within hours, only to be left disappointed again.

“I had two-and-a-half hours’ sleep and woke up at 5.45am for a call with a [BA] supervisor, but he never called me. I am so, so stressed. I don’t need this stress.

“It’s an absolute car crash, to be honest, when you get fobbed off and you don’t have a clue about what is happening. It’s a shambles. It’s making my day a lot harder.

“I am at the point where if it does not turn up I will drive back to Heathrow.”

Heathrow through the years

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  Heathrow Airport in London, the UK's busiest, has been a travel hub for decades. Here The National takes a look back at Heathrow through the years. All photos: Getty Images

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  An Airco De Havilland biplane of the British airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, about to leave on the company’s inaugural flight from Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, later known as Heathrow, to Le Bourget, Paris, in August 1919

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  Waterlogged runways at London Airport - Heathrow's original name - one week before it became Britain's main aerial gateway to the US in 1946

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  The new BOAC maintenance headquarters at London Airport circa 1955

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  The air traffic control room at the airport's new terminal in 1955

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  US film star Marilyn Monroe with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after arriving at the airport in July 1956

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  An aerial view showing the runways in 1958

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  The arrivals and departures board in 1960

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  A new airport gift shop, selling items by Chanel, Wedgwood and Pringle of Scotland, in 1961

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  The Queen's Building and the No. 1 Building Europa at Heathrow in 1965

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  The Beatles leave Heathrow for Salzburg in Austria, to resume filming of the movie Help!, in 1965

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  Passenger terminal gates at Heathrow in 1966

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  Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, holding up a model of the Boeing 747 jet, with the new aircraft hangars under construction in the background, at Heathrow in 1969

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  An aerial view of Heathrow in 1970

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  Passengers boarding the first BOAC Jumbo Jet 747 used for a commercial flight, from London Heathrow to New York, in 1971

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  Passengers going through the departure lounge at Heathrow in 1973

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  Concorde takes off from Heathrow on her first commercial flight for British Airways in 1976

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  Men at work finalising the Heathrow Central underground station before its opening in 1977

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  Queen Elizabeth II passing though the Tube gates at Heathrow Central station on its opening in 1977

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  An aerial view of Heathrow in 1978

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  Passengers waiting near a departures board in 1979

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  Holidaymakers waiting in the departure lounge at Terminal 3 of Heathrow in 1981

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  British Airways employees protesting at Heathrow in 1984

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  Passengers and staff observe a silence in Heathrow's Terminal One to mark the beginning of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997

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  Rower Steve Redgrave at Heathrow with daughters Sophie and Natalie and son Zak after returning from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with his gold medal

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  Spectators watch the last Concorde land at Heathrow in 2003

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  Fans surround the coach carrying the England rugby team at Heathrow, as they arrived from Sydney after winning the World Cup in 2003

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  Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2004

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  Passengers queue to check in at Terminal 1 of Heathrow Airport during the Christmas 2006 and New Year period

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  Passengers wait at Terminal 1 on August 10, 2006, after airport security was raised to critical when a terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US was disrupted by police

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  Planes queueing to take off at Heathrow in 2007

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  The new Terminal 5 at Heathrow in 2008

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  Aircraft at Heathrow Airport in front of the London skyline in 2016

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  Members of Team GB arrive from Rio de Janeiro at Heathrow, after returning from the 2016 Olympics, which saw Great Britain's strongest performance at the Games in over a century

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  A composite photo shows planes taking off from Heathrow in November 2016. Forty-two planes were captured between 10.17am and 11.17am and a montage was created from those single images

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  Items are arranged during an auction preview at Heathrow in 2018. The contents of Terminal 1, which closed in 2015, were being sold

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  An airline passenger wearing a face mask pushes her bags through Heathrow's Terminal 5 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020

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  British Airways employees welcome Olympians returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021

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  Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check in 2022