Ryanair News

15.08.06

MORE FLIGHTS CANCELLED AS BAA OPERATES 30% STAFFING LEVELS

BRING IN THE ARMY AND GET BRITAIN MOVING

As a result of the BAA’s chronic inability to staff their Stansted security facilities, combined with nonsensical hand baggage restrictions, security queues are now stretching dramatically through the Stansted terminal paralysing the operation there.

At 04.00 this morning, BAA Stansted had opened just 4 out of 14 security points at the airport. Passengers had already been checking in for one hour at that point. At 05.00 this morning, just one hour prior to the scheduled first wave of departures, BAA Stansted had opened just 7 out of 14 security points.

Once again flights will be delayed and more cancellations are inevitable. Already Ryanair has been forced to cancel eight flights this morning. The chaotic scenes at Stansted Airport show that there is no foundation to BAA CEO Stephen Nelson’s claim that staffing is not a problem.

Ryanair once again calls on the UK Government to take the lead, bypass the dithering and relieve the paralysis by:

1. Bringing in the army or the police to support the hard pressed BAA front line staff while the current level of security searching is in place.
2. Introduce common sense to searching and baggage regulations, restoring the situation to normal as a matter of urgency.

Ryanair sincerely apologises to passengers for the inevitable cancellations and delays but continues to press for common sense security measures and Government support through army and police personnel when it is clear that the BAA front line staff can not cope.