‘Airport experience in 2022 won’t be as good as 2019,’ says new Manchester chief

Chris Woodroofe says ‘summer 2022 is absolutely not the right standard going forward’

Passengers queue for security screening in the departures area of Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport (REUTERS)

The airport experience this summer “is not going to be as good as it was in 2019”, the new Manchester airport chief has said.

The airport’s managing director Chris Woodroofe warned that queues would continue at peak times, saying: “It’s not going to be like it was in 2019”.

However, he was quick to add that this would likely be the same up and down the country, “across the board at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester.”

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, the ex-chief operating officer of London Gatwick claimed that “the vast majority of passengers are going to have a reasonable experience”, but added that travellers would be asked to arrive three hours before their flight for the rest of the summer.

Mr Woodroofe said passengers shouldn’t arrive any earlier than that though, as those who get to the airport too much ahead of time are “as unhelpful” as those who turn up late.

Eleven days into the job, he said the airport experience was not as “perfect” as he would like it to be, but claimed great strides had been made in the last month.

“Are we in a position to say it’s going to be like it was in 2019? No, there are still going to be difficult periods, we are still on a recruitment ramp-up and as a result security officers are going to be fairly new and they are still finding their feet but you can see the positive steps in the right direction,” he said.

“It’s about looking forward and making it the best it can be.”

Despite improvements, some passengers are likely to be queuing for an hour for security at peak times this summer.

Manchester airport is currently aiming to get 93 per cent of passengers through security in under 30 minutes, with this target potentially increasing to 95 per cent.

In May, when the aviation hub was hit by hours-long queues, delays, cancelled flights and baggage issues, only 91 per cent of passengers got through in 30 minutes or under.

“I don’t want people to imagine I’m content with 95 per cent of passengers in 30 minutes. It’s realistic of what the summer has to offer,” said Mr Woodroofe.

“What I’d like to get across is that summer 2022 is absolutely not the right standard going forward and it’s absolutely my intention to get ourselves back and use the autumn and winter of this coming season to get ourselves there so in summer 2023 we will be in a reasonable position.”

Back in April, the previous MD, Karen Smart, stepped down from her position amid chaotic scenes at Manchester Airport in order to “pursue fresh career opportunities”.