Staff shortages lead to lengthy airport queues at Birmingham

Long queues have been reported at Birmingham Airport for passengers to get through security

Travellers have complained of "chaos" at Birmingham Airport with long queues for those both arriving and departing.

One man said it took more than two hours to get through security while other travellers said they could not disembark from aircraft.

Derek Alonza said queues had been "immense" while another traveller called them "absolutely ridiculous".

The airport apologised and said standards had not been met.

Mr Alonza said he turned up three hours early for his flight to Madeira on Monday but getting through security took more than two hours.

He tweeted "Birmingham airport in chaos" and added "we are seeing lots and lots of families running to the gates".

Several travellers took to social media to complain over the long delays in security and also in disembarking from aircraft.

One man tweeted he had been sitting on a plane at the airport for more than an hour due to a lack of ground staff.

Staffs shortages are behind the delays, the airport's chief executive Nick Barton said, as many aviation industries lost nearly half their workforce during the pandemic.

He said while recruitment had increased in February it was taking time to train new staff.

• Listen to Nick Barton from Birmingham Airport on BBC Sounds

"There are moments when the standards which we would be used to at Birmingham are not being met but [passengers] are making the flight and are getting back safely," Mr Barton added.

The delays have also been compounded in some cases by oil terminal protests which have disrupted deliveries, the airport said.

Colin Gibson told the BBC his flight on Sunday from Birmingham to Tenerife had to divert to Portugal to take on enough fuel to complete the flight, adding about two hours to their journey.

Mr Barton said a small number of their flights have been affected by the fuel protests and they have moved to contingency plans.