Measures we're taking to help minimise airport queues as demand for travel surges

Demand for air travel is currently increasing at a rate we've never seen before.

In the space of a few short months Edinburgh Airport will go from essentially being switched off with very few passengers coming through the doors, to running at not far off full throttle as many people head off on their first holiday in two years.

That means many different things. It means we're recruiting a lot of new staff, it means we're asking our existing staff to step up and help, and it means, unfortunately, we're urging passengers to expect some queues.

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So what exactly is changing?

Essentially we're preparing for almost a full service for the first time since 2019.

The number of passengers travelling through the airport fell from nearly 15 million to three million. We lost a lot of staff during the pandemic, and the airport was a very different place in 2020 and 2021 to what it was in 2019.

We're not quite expecting to see 2019 levels this year, but we're certainly going to see a significant rise - and with that comes some hurdles we need to overcome.

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What are we doing about it?

New staff are being recruited all the time, and once they're on board and fully trained they'll help us adjust to the new landscape we find ourselves in.

However we need to be realistic, we're operating in a difficult job market and we see it as our responsibility to be honest with passengers.

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Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "We are grateful to passengers for their patience and understanding and ask that they allow themselves to carefully plan and understand what they need to do before they get here.

"We all want to put on as good a service as we can and will be working hard to do that, drafting in people from across the airport to support passengers and ensuring people have everything they need to get through the airport quickly and comfortably.”

We're also going to be using our website and social media channels to help inform passengers of everything they need to know to make their journey as stress-free as possible - from hints and tips for security and pre-travel checklists, to check-in desk opening times.

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Adam Wilson, Operations Director at Edinburgh Airport said: “Operations virtually shut down during the pandemic and although we have been planning for a sudden rise in demand, we cannot deny it will have an impact on our operations as we look to readjust.

“We’ve drawn up a range of plans to deal with potential scenarios but unfortunately this may not avoid queuing at peak times. We clearly hope this won’t be the case, but we think it’s better to be honest and ask passengers to work with us to make the process as smooth as possible.

“We’ll be using our social media channels, our website, our emails to inform and best prepare people for their return to travel. We hope people understand the challenges we are likely to face, and we are thankful for their patience.”