It was another busy day at Edinburgh Airport on Wednesday, and security staff were already past the first early morning travel peak.
Although the height of peak had already receded, at 11am, the multi-story car park and ground spaces were rammed with not a space in sight. The only available spots were in the long-stay car park a 15-minute walk away.
Greg Maxwell, Edinburgh Airport’s head of corporate affairs, said it was typical of the latest travel trends. He reported that more than 600,000 passengers passed through the airport last month. Passenger volume during peak travel times has seen a 93 percent recovery in the past month.
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As Edinburgh Live’s reporter went behind the scenes, Greg revealed what it’s like to work at the airport.
“All of the Covid restrictions were only lifted at the end of March, and in that three-month period we’ve seen massive amounts of volume recovery,” Greg said.
“We’ve been opening the security hall an hour earlier and our staff have been volunteering extra hours because people are queuing outside security gates before they open. We’ve never seen that before.”
Volunteers from all departments have signed up for the “Here to Help” scheme. Volunteers don high-vis jackets and answer endless questions from the public. Walking through the airport with Greg revealed the extent of traveller anxiety.
He was approached multiple times by nervous passengers seeking directions and advice.
“Passengers are traveling again for the first time possibly in two years. We get a lot of questions about Covid-19 requirements, and a lot of people are simply forgetting what they need to do for security because they’re out of practice. We help as much as we can with Covid information, but we’re encouraging passenger responsibility,” said Greg.
He drew a clear distinction between the role and responsibility of the airport versus the role and responsibilities of airlines, partners, and baggage handling agencies.
“The airport is essentially a facility manager with a variety of partners working inside,” said Greg.
Airport staff greet travellers in the check-in hall to answer questions and help form check-in queues. However, once passengers reach the desk, airline handling agents are fully responsible for processing times and procedures.
Likewise, the airport has no data or responsibility for baggage handling or the UK border at International arrivals.
“As the airport, our role is to work with both the airlines and the baggage handling agencies, but we don’t have any data or responsibility for that part of passenger experience,” said Greg.
“I can really understand the confusion and frustration from the passenger’s perspective, because people think we must look after everything in the building, but we don’t. We work with travellers and signpost, but we can’t solve those problems.”
Mr Maxwell’s tour turns from check-in towards security, and we bypass the queues waiting in the hall. Although the queues are nearly backed up to the E-gates, he said staff are processing people and luggage quickly.
At a guess, Mr Maxwell said the people at the back of the line would be past security in less than 30 minutes.
In order to get through the hall, he and all guests must also undergo security screenings. Staff are on hand to dynamically direct traffic, and officers stand by the tray loading area to remind passengers about liquids, belts, laptops, etc.
During peak travel times, Edinburgh Airport’s head of security, Michael Hering said the airport has six operational security lanes that are capable of processing approximately 2,600 passengers in an hour.
Despite added pressures on staff and resources, Michael claimed the team has generally managed to avoid the queue time woes of other airports.
“We have very high-performance rates for the technology we have in this airport,” said Michael.
“Madrid’s airport has 21 lanes with the same technology as our six lanes, and they can only process an additional 300 people per hour. Our goal is to get everyone through security in less than 10 minutes, but sometimes that’s not always realistic.”
With more than 600,000 passengers passing through Edinburgh security in the last month, Michael said Edinburgh’s aviation industry is full of passionate people that come for a job and stay for a career.
“Once you’ve worked at an airport, there’s just something about the environment that keeps you here. You see couples going on holiday, kids and grannies come through and you get to have a two-minute chat before they go on a big trip. It’s the buzz of the airport. Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but there’s no other sector of the security industry that you get that from,” he said.
Security, Michael said, is a great equaliser because everybody, regardless of who you are or where you’re from, is required to go through, and everyone is subject to the same process.
Although Edinburgh Airport has generally had positive feedback and reasonable security queue times, Michael said reject rates for bags and trays have had an impact on efficiency.
“Reject rates have been about two percent higher compared to numbers before Covid,” Michael confirmed.
“Essentially, bags and trays are being pulled from the x-ray machine to be hand searched. Although two percent doesn’t sound like much, but we work on really tight margins.
We had 600,500 passengers last month, and it essentially meant we were searching an additional 18,000 trays that we wouldn’t have been searching pre-pandemic. When those rejected trays build up, it restricts queues and adds to wait times.”
The problem stems from travellers forgetting what they need to do for security because they’re out of practice. Hand sanitisers, liquids and electronics become forgotten in rucksacks, and cause delays when staff must conduct searches.
Extra staff and signage have been utilised to bring the reject rate back down to pre-pandemic levels, but Michael said it’s just a matter of getting old habits back into passenger memories.
The pandemic has also impacted employment rates and onboarding procedures.
Greg explained that the airport had to let go about a third of its pre-pandemic staff throughout the last two years of lockdowns. Re-hiring staff and training them to industry standards takes time.
“Technically the airport is fully staffed now, but not everyone will be on board and working until the end of the month. There’s a time frame we need to get staff passes and for new hires to start training,” he said.
Nearly half of Hering’s security staff have been in service for less than 12 months. However, Michael said morale is high, and staff are feeling upbeat and positive ahead of a busy summer.
Greg’s advice to travellers centres on preparedness and patience.
He advised passengers to arrive at the airport when check in desks open to reduce the number of people waiting in the check-in hall. He has recently seen passengers arriving up to six hours before their flight, only to be stuck in the crowded check in hall waiting for airline desks to open.
Lastly, he encouraged people to be patient and respectful of staff while also preparing themselves for security.
Airport queue times are reported via social media at peak times throughout the day, and the airport also has live times on its website.
