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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Charles Gray

Leeds Bradford Airport warns passengers not to arrive too early as it gives updated delay figures after 'chaos'

Leeds Bradford Airport has provided an updated statement as it continues to deal with complaints of "chaos" and huge queues at the airport.

Many passengers have complained about large queues greeting them when they arrive at the airport in the mornings, with some waiting hours to get through security checks. Others described "chaotic" scenes, with security and staff not being on hand to direct passengers and provide information.

The airport has now provided an updated statement, with the chief executive Vincent Hodder asking people to come to Leeds Bradford "no earlier than three hours" before their scheduled departure time. Mr Hodder has said that people arriving early for their flights is leading to a "blow-out of queues".

Read more: Inside Leeds Bradford Airport 'chaos' with queues like you've 'never seen before'

The airport also said that "less than 0.01%" of the 67,000 passengers (6.7) that travelled through the airport last week missed their flights. It comes as Mr Hodder recently told the BBC that around 390 passengers have missed flights over the last three months due to check-in delays.

The airport has repeatedly said that the root cause of the issues at the airport is a shortage of staff and that "these current challenges are an industry wide problem, caused by the speed of withdrawal of travel restrictions and testing which has led to the rapid recovery of international travel".

In a new statement this afternoon (Monday), Leeds Bradford Airport said that it has a "large amount of new recruits confirmed" but that they are awaiting Home Office approval. It said: "More staff are being released into operation from training each week.

"LBA is confident that with additional staff being recruited the situation will return to normal later in the coming months."

It said that the peak time for demand to get through security was between 4am and 8am and 3pm to 4pm, saying: "Outside of these hours there are virtually no queues.

"The airport is making announcements 60 minutes before the schedule time of departure to call any remaining passengers into the fast tray queue for processing.

"The safety of passengers is our biggest priority and we are actively monitoring queues on CCTV, segmenting queues, and ensuring staff presence at the head of the queue placing people into lanes and on boarding card scanners."

One customer who arrived at LBA around 4am ahead of their 6.25am flight said they 'could not see the end of the line' an hour before their flight was due to take off (Submitted)

Mr Hodder apologised to passengers impacted by queues, saying: "I want to assure those looking to travel with us that we’re working hard to overcome these challenges.

"Staff shortages continue to be an issue for us, as well as other airports across the UK, but we are doing everything we can to get staff into positions that can ease the current pressures. We’re confident that we now have the necessary staff recruited or in the pipeline to operate the airport at its full capacity, and we hope that Home Office accreditation, following extensive referencing checks, is imminent to enable us to enhance our team as quickly as possible. We’re doing everything we can to make travelling through LBA is as smooth and comfortable an experience as possible, whilst also being a safe environment.

“While we address these issues, we ask passengers to work with us and help us minimise queues. Please arrive to the airport no earlier than three hours before departure, as arriving earlier will exacerbate queuing issues further. We are working closely with our airline partners to actively manage queues, ensuring that passengers are brought forward if required. Please also follow all rules and procedures through security as per our website listing, signage within the airport and video instructions."

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