Air travellers facing months of disruption

Just a single queue will operate until the end of July, apart from at the start of half term.

Early summer is normally a busy time of year at the airport.

Steve Langlois, head of passenger operations and aviation security for Guernsey Ports, said the pandemic had impacted the global manufacturing sector, which limited the availability of the specialist scanning equipment.

‘This project follows on from the recently completed hold baggage system upgrade, which was also affected by Covid-19,’ he said.

‘The impact on passengers would have been much greater if both projects were run concurrently.’

Serious disruption was caused at the airport during the hold baggage upgrading, with luggage being hand-searched for months.

Both hold baggage scanners are now live.

That disruption led to some flight delays, as passengers were held up waiting for bag searches, and check-in closure times were brought forward in a bid to get passengers to the airport earlier.

That was when 2,000 travellers a month were passing through the airport and only some passengers had hold luggage.

This compares with more than 30,000 journeys made through the airport in February – the most recent month with data. Border restrictions were lifted in mid-February.

Pre-pandemic more than 50,000 people travelled through the airport in February 2019.

Late spring was a popular time to travel to the island pre-pandemic, with a more than 158,000 people travelling through the airport across May and June 2019 – about a fifth of the year’s total.

It is unclear what traveller numbers are set to be like in coming months, as all restrictions have lifted for the first summer in two years.

There are also a number of popular direct European services being operated, including to Germany and Spain.

Traveller numbers are usually much lower between November and February compared with the rest of the year.

‘Whilst it would have been our preference to carry out the security upgrade work at Guernsey Airport in the quieter winter months, this was not possible due to local and UK contractor availability and global manufacturing processes being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,’ said Mr Langlois.

‘As these elements are now available, the ports took the decision to proceed. The project aims to meet passenger needs and adapt to the ever-changing and evolving security standards that all airports in the British Isles must follow. Since March 2020, passenger travel numbers and

trends remain below 2019 levels.’

There were be two queues operating for the start of half term at the end of May to cope with anticipated rises in passenger numbers, but this does not seem to extend to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend the following week.

Guernsey Airport has warned there is likely to be longer queue times.