Manchester airport is to fully reopen Terminal Three to “meet the increased demand” as Covid-19 travel restrictions have been removed.
The UK airport started a phased reopening of the terminal last month but is now stepping up this process with Terminal Three set to be fully reopened on Friday (22 April).
The move means that all passengers flying with Aurigny, British Airways, Eastern Airways, Iberia Express, Loganair, Ryanair and Vueling will now check in at the Terminal Three entrance. Arriving passengers will also exit from Terminal Three.
The airport, which has been criticised for long queues in recent weeks, urged passengers to “refamiliarise themselves with the rules for security” to help shorten waiting times.
Earlier this month, Charlie Cornish, CEO of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), warned that the group did not have enough staff to “to provide the level of service that our passengers deserve”.
“Despite our efforts since last autumn, the tight labour market around the airport has meant we have just not been able to hire people quickly enough to establish a full-strength team,” said Cornish.
“Practically, staff shortages mean that we cannot open all the security lanes we need and at times, this results in longer queues than we want to see.
“While we still expect most passengers to get through in less than 30-40 minutes, there will be times over the next few months when waiting times will rise to between 60 and 90 minutes.”
MAG, which also owns London Stansted and East Midlands airport, served 3.1 million passengers in March, which represented 70 per cent of its traffic in March 2019 and was the group’s strongest month since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.