Dailymail
The half-term getaway for families in Britain ground to a halt today as thousands faced huge queues at airports across the country amid widespread staffing shortages – with more than 30,000 easyJet passengers also affected by hundreds of flight cancellations.
Airports in the UK are still struggling to recover from Covid restrictions and are struggling to hire enough staff to meet surging demand while Britain faces a tight labour market with more vacancies than job-seekers.
Compounding the problem, an IT crash involving easyJet left the holiday plans of families in the lurch. The airline cancelled a further 14 flights to and from London Gatwick Airport today after calling off more than 200 yesterday.
The plans of Liverpool football fans hoping to reach the Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris tomorrow were also thrown into chaos after flights to the French capital were axed from Manchester and Bristol.
Other fliers suffered more than 360 delays with routes such as Belfast to Corfu and Liverpool to Dalaman also affected by the disruption, which now poses a serious threat to families’ half-term holidays if the issue reoccurs.
Those jetting off from Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester airports have been among the worst hit, with travellers describing scenes of chaos during and either side of the two hours when the IT failure hit yesterday afternoon.
There were also huge queues at airports including Luton and Heathrow this morning, and the Unite union warned that the problems could continue next week and get worse in the summer holidays because of staff shortages.
Meanwhile traffic was building up on major routes around Britain including massive queues on the approach to the Port of Dover in Kent as families heading to the Continent were left standing outside their cars as they waited.
P&O Ferries warned of ‘heavy traffic’, adding: ‘If you are booked to travel today please allow at least 2.5 hours to clear all security checks. Rest assured, if you miss your sailing, you’ll be on the first available once at check-in.’
The RAC said drivers are planning on making 17.8million leisure trips this weekend as schools break for half-term ahead of for the Jubilee bank holiday weekend. Saturday is expected to be the busiest day with 4.6million trips.
Data from transport experts Inrix said traffic hotspots will be the M1 southbound between junctions 16 and 6 this evening, the M25 anticlockwise between junctions 17 and J12 tomorrow morning and the A720 west between the A1 and the M60 clockwise between junction 7 and 18 on Sunday afternoon.
