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Birmingham Post
Birmingham Post
Business
Tamlyn Jones

'Flights unaffected' by Border Force strikes, says Birmingham Airport chief

Birmingham Airport has said its flight schedule will remain unaffected by planned strikes by Border Force staff later this month.

The announcement comes after the news last week that members of the Public and Commercial Services union were planning up to eight days of walkouts at the Solihull airport. The industrial action relates to a row over pay and conditions.

Border Force staff are scheduled to strike at Birmingham and five other UK airports, along with the Port of Newhaven in East Sussex, from December 23 to 25 and December 28 to 30, along with strikes until around 7am on December 26 and 31.

Birmingham Airport said flights would operate as scheduled on those days when Border Force employees went on strike but did warn of some expected delays.

It said departing passengers to all destinations would be unaffected as would travellers arriving from Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Those passengers arriving with biometric (UK and EU) passports would be able to use electronic border gates as normal but did warn to expect some delays especially at peak times.

Those passengers arriving without biometric passports would have to join the queue for face-to-face processing by border officials and could expect "a slightly longer wait" than normal at peak times.

Border Force is the arm of the Home Office which is responsible for immigration and customs controls for people and goods entering the UK.

Nick Barton, chief executive of Birmingham Airport, said: "Throughout the Border Force strike period, we and our airline partners will operate our normal schedule of flights both in and out of Birmingham Airport.

"The Border Force strike will not affect any departing passengers, irrespective of destination, and for inbound passengers we have mitigation plans which aim to make their entry into the UK as swift and easy as possible."

A contingency team of Ministry of Defence personnel will cover absent Border Force workers at Birmingham Airport on strike days alongside the airport's own customer service teams in a bid to keep people moving.

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