Huge queues to check-in at Edinburgh Airport have been captured today, April 4, as travellers head for a well-earned Easter break in the sun.
In what are unprecedented times for airlines and airport staff, Easyjet have been forced to cancel over 200 flights over the weekend, with two from the capital being affected.
Edinburgh Airport themselves have also issued a warning to passengers, preparing them for potential queues and frustrating circumstances ahead of their departure and arrival into the city, as Covid sickness and recruitment issues continue to plague staff members across the board.
READ MORE: Easyjet cancel Edinburgh flights as company struggles with Covid staff absences
On March 31, Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "The return of passengers to Edinburgh Airport is both exciting for the team here but challenging at the same time. During the pandemic, we lost many valued colleagues and our recruitment campaign to employ 1,000 people across the airport has been underway since the end of 2021.
"Not all of those additional people will be in place as quickly as we would like and therefore it is inevitable there will be some queues and disruption as the recovery begins and we take the first steps to normality.
"As we do that, we are grateful to passengers for their patience and understanding and ask that they allow themselves to carefully plan and understand what they need to do before they get here. We all want to put on as good a service as we can and will be working hard to do that, drafting in people from across the airport to support passengers and ensuring people have everything they need to get through the airport quickly and comfortably."
As the Easter holidays have always proved to be a popular period for holidaymakers to crack out the factor 50 and whisk themselves away to warmer countries, it's no surprise that the queues have already started to mount.
Pictures taken today show a huge pile-up of passengers before check-in at Edinburgh Airport, in what certainly seem to be busier and more hectic circumstances than normal.
The main thorn in the side of Edinburgh Airport, and others around the UK, seems to be the issue surrounding staff leaving during the pandemic, as well shortages due due to Covid, and although restrictions have continued to ease and the world is bit-by-bit returning to normal, that doesn't necessarily mean everything will suddenly run like clockwork.
Staff at the airport have been under immense pressure lately, drafting in extra support for passengers, as well as having to factor in absences from individual airlines, with Easyjet the most notable company suffering of late.