Manchester Airport ready for Christmas despite earlier chaos, says boss

Passengers had to queue for hours on the bridge connecting terminals at the airport in May

Manchester Airport's boss has promised it is ready to transport passengers this Christmas and there will no repeat of earlier chaos.

The facility was plagued with long queues, delays and cancelled flights earlier this year.

An additional 700 staff have been recruited this year with 250 more to be brought in to cope with the expected 1.7m passengers.

Managing director Chris Woodroofe said: "We are absolutely ready Christmas."

Passengers had branded the airport a "complete nightmare" after weeks of chaos. with passengers missing flights because of long queues at security.

Manchester Airport had previously blamed staff shortages and a post-pandemic spike in demand.

Mr Woodroofe, who is originally from Widnes, Cheshire, was appointed in June and replaced Karen Smart who stepped down in April after eight years in the business.

He told BBC North West Tonight: "We are very much looking foward to 1.7m passengers travelling through the airport during that Christmas period.

"We are now delivering really decent experiences for our passengers, very much back to 2019 levels of performance."

He insisted the airport is "now a very different experience" than earlier in the year.

The problems first came to light in mid-March when passengers were left waiting for hours, with some forced to queue outside in the car park.

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