Aviation bosses on Tuesday urged the Government to speed up the rate of security checks of staff to prevent the airport chaos of recent weeks blighting the peak summer season.
Airports, airlines and the Border Force are said to be hiring “tens of thousands” of extra employees to cope with the unexpectedly strong surge in bookings since most travel restrictions were lifted in February.
These range from flight crew to baggage handlers but also include Border Force immigration staff, all of whom have to gain clearance from UK Security Vetting, which is overseen by the Cabinet Office, before they are given the green light to start work by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The checks normally take 10 to 15 weeks but the sheer volume currently being processed has resulted in lengthy delays that have brought chaos to airports and forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.
EasyJet’s chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “There’s this delay of the clearance from the DfT for people to get their IDs.
“There’s a backlog there and we’re waiting currently for about 100 cabin crew to get their IDs. There’s a three-week delay on that. That has had an impact. If that would have been on time, we would have seen less cancellations.
“I understand the DfT and the ministers are doing what they can to accelerate and speed this up... but it definitely has had an impact.”
Aviation industry sources said the patchy employment record of staff during the pandemic was making it harder to complete the checks as vetters were having to make contact with up to a dozen former employers instead of the normal two or three.
One source said the summer season was “not out of the woods yet” but with continuing high levels of recruitment and a commitment from government to speed up the vetting process, a repeat of the Easter problems should be avoided.
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the sector would need to raise pay rates — which can be as low as £9.67 an hour for baggage handlers — to be able to recruit enough people.
Airport Operators Association chief executive Karen Dee said: “Travel restrictions started to ease at the beginning of this year and airports have been preparing for passengers’ return since, including by working hard to recruit more staff in a very competitive labour market.
“We are working constructively with the Government to resolve any delays in the necessary checks before staff can start work, to help airports train and deploy staff as quickly as possible to ease any staff shortages and prevent recruits trying to find alternative jobs while waiting for their checks to clear.”
Mr Lundgren added: “An usually high level of crew Covid sickness has impacted the operations in recent days.
“We made advanced cancellations of around five per cent of the programme in the last couple of days... More than 60 per cent [of customers] were able to rebook for another flight on that day.”
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “There are absolutely no delays to security vetting of applicants. It is wrong to suggest otherwise and we are prioritising vetting applications from the aviation industry.
“It is for the aviation industry to manage resourcing at airports and staff absences, especially at busy times of the year.”
