‘Unacceptable’ Heathrow queues risk UK’s economic recovery, airport says
Heathrow’s chief operating officer has today said that the length of delays currently facing travellers at the UK’s biggest airport were “unacceptable”.
Speaking to MPs at the Home Affairs Select Committee today, Emma Gilthorpe said that some people were having to queue for three to six hours to pass through border control.
And she warned that if the issues were not sorted out, it could affect the UK’s ability to recover from the pandemic by dissuading people from coming here.
International travellers trying to enter the country currently have to show evidence of a negative Covid test taken 72 hours before departure to England, as well as a passenger locator form.
Gilthorpe said that the delays were a result of the “complexity of the processes and the way resource is being deployed”.
Immigration officials are also having to check whether Covid test results are valid, with fraudulent test results having been found around the world.
An official with the Immigration Services Union, which represents Heathrow border staff, said that staff had to verify the tests, which are yet to be standardised internationally, by checking for spelling errors.
Despite more Border Force staff being made available, Gilthorpe said that they were still outnumbered by passengers.
“It is deeply frustrating as the operator of the airport when you have a queue full of people and you only have two desks open”, she told MPs.
“It is rare to see all the desks manned and we have to find our way to how we make that happen so we can get that flow.”
And the situation could yet worsen, with Public and Commercial Services staff having balloted for strike action due to the “unworkable” rotas.
If the situation does not improve, Gilthorpe warned that the UK’s “economic resurgence” could be under threat.
“Heathrow is Britain’s hub airport, it is the front door. We have to get our economy moving and we have to make sure we are capable of receiving people.
“If you have a poor experience at the border, there’s a risk you’re not going to come back again. That traffic will go to Charles De Gaulle, it will go to Frankfurt and we will miss out on that economic resurgence, because we know Heathrow is key to business and trade”, she added.