Heathrow Airport could divert aircraft to ease crowding

Queues at Heathrow border control last month.

Heathrow Airport is considering contingency plans to divert aircraft to other UK airports or EU hubs if queues at the border become too long.

The airport has seen queues of up to six hours at the border over the last few months as the number of checks and paperwork for UK arrivals increased.

The airport's chief operating officer has previously warned passengers could be held on planes to prevent crowding.

This would take measures a step further as a potential last resort.

The airport wants to see more staff processing passengers at the border, and for the passenger locator form that all passengers must now show on arrival to be automated so that passengers could use the e-gates.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: "Instead of telling passengers to brace themselves for a long wait in immigration queues, Border Force should step up its efforts to automate checks for green list countries, and put in place additional resource for passengers where manual checks might be needed. Accepting delays is a further demonstration of complacency from them on the matter.

"There are protocols in place to hold passengers on planes or divert them to other airports, to prevent excessive, unnecessary and completely avoidable queues in immigration halls."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Protecting public health is our priority and as we reopen international travel safely we will maintain 100% health checks at the border to protect the wider public and our vaccine rollout.

"While we do this, wait times are likely to be longer and we will do all we can to smooth the process, including the roll-out of our e-Gate upgrade programme during the summer and deploying additional Border Force officers."