Stansted Airport is to increase the capacity of its security search area as part of a further ”2m ($3.9m) investment to help speed up the process for passengers at the terminal. This comes after intense pressure by customers and airlines increasingly frustrated by some enormous queues. Stansted does have a very successful and little used FastTrack operation, currently only the preserve of Eos and Maxjet.
Stansted, and for that matter all British airports, exasperate visitors who are told upon arrival for their return journey that they can only carry one item of hand luggage through security. Abroad, for the most part you can carry two pieces. This rule is thought to have been suggested to the Department for Transport by BAA themselves as a way of keeping throughput at the same level without increasing staff.
The extension will allow for additional x-ray machines and arches to be installed, along with more entry points and security lanes, which will greatly increase the number of passengers that can pass through security every hour.
The area will be operational by the end of March.
Stansted”s customer service director Mark Murphy said: ”The record breaking Christmas getaway was a real success for us at Stansted with our staff working tirelessly, under some extremely difficult and challenging conditions, to help give passengers as safe and secure a journey as possible ” whilst keeping queuing to a minimum.
”We are now building on this success by extending the security search area to further enhance the experience for our passengers. This investment clearly demonstrates our commitment to reducing queuing times at security and provide even better customer service ” while maintaining the highest security standards.”
Over the last 12 months Stansted has been extremely successful in recruiting an additional 300 security officers to work at the airport. As part of the continuing recruitment process it is now looking for a number of customer service team managers to join the security operation.
Recruitment manager at Stansted Cathy Brennan said: ”Because of the increased numbers of security officers employed at Stansted we are now looking to boost the number of staff that manage the enlarged teams. We are extremely interested in people who have a strong background in customer service, and those who have experience of managing teams in a busy operational environment.”
Image: ” BAA