Birmingham Airport: What is causing 'chaotic queues' at security and in the terminal - as passengers claim 'very few staff present'

Passengers were once again faced with huge queues at Birmingham Airport this morning (Monday 17 June) with pictures posted on social media showing lines of people that snaked around the car park. Passengers reported waiting for several hours to clear security at 5.30am, with some concerned the long delays would mean they would miss their flights.

Another video showed staff sectioning off parts of the queue, which also showed the queue snaking around the terminal. Passengers on long-haul flights were advised to arrive as much as four hours in advance of their departure time to check in.

One passenger posted on X, formerly Twitter: “What an absolute s*** show @bhx_offical is. Chaotic queue, very few staff present. Scanners that isolate bags as they don't work properly. This is meant to be an improvement.”

It comes after weeks of reports of huge queues at the airport. Passengers faced confusion over the 100ml liquid limit rule as the airport had installed new 3D scanners, but its liquid rules are still in place.

The hi-tech CT scanners create a 3D image of what is inside passengers’ bags, allowing airports to scrap the 100ml limit. However, the government temporarily reversed plans to scrap the 100ml liquid limit in hand luggage. 

Airport CEO, Nick Barton, told NationalWorld’s sister title the Express and Star that problems have been caused by passengers not allowed to carry liquids, pastes and gels bigger than 100ml in their hand luggage. He said: “The problem we have is we were ready to go using this [new screening] system but we don’t have a plan B, we can’t go back to our old system.

"We have to use the new system which is now constrained by government directive until the software checks they are doing are completed. In the meantime, that means our machines are not as efficient or quick as they were designed to be.

“In the peaks we are getting queues, usually first thing in the morning. They are far longer than we’d want but everyone’s getting their flights. For a lot of the day we can measure the security queue in seconds." He told the BBC that one in six passengers have not been following the rules, causing delays.

However, it was previously claimed by insiders that the queues are due to the airport being “understaffed”. The issue was originally believed to have stemmed from a shortage of staff and the time it has taken to complete the new security hall upgrade. The source added that the airport should have employed extra security staff to combat these problems.

In response, airport bosses said a “continual recruitment campaign for security officers” is in place and added that missed or delayed flights are “not necessarily” their fault. Birmingham Airport said in a statement that alongside the security delays with the new technology, “on-going building works on-site” have added to the “usual busy morning” as customers have waited in 'long and skinny queues”.

Birmingham Airport has recruited 100 staff members, said to be in place by Friday June 14, to deal with the sudden UK liquid rule change. Nick Barton told BirminghamLive that BHX has hired specialist “liquids consultants” to monitor every single entrance to the airport and help passengers get their bags ready for the security hall.