Families to get own queue at Edinburgh Airport

Charlene Wilson with Taylor Crozier, left, and Eva Wilson, flying to Spain. Picture: Toby Williams

More than 90,000 people will jet off from the airport this weekend as the school summer holidays get under way – with top destinations including Malaga, Alicante, Palma and Amsterdam.

But airport bosses are urging travellers to “prepare for security” following a spate of recent delays and hold-ups involving the terminal’s new £25 million security hall.

Earlier this week hundreds of angry passengers lashed out at the airport after chaotic scenes during the Monday morning rush, with airport bosses blaming an IT issue.

One traveller branded it “the worst airport in the world”, while several insisted the hour-long queues had resulted in them missing their flight.

Now airport chiefs are temporarily bringing in a dedicated family line to help parents and youngsters get through security and “make that part of the journey easier”.

And with the annual Edinburgh trades holiday kicking off next weekend, David Wilson, the airport’s chief operating officer, vowed staff would be “pulling out all the stops”.

He said: “Last month saw over one million passengers travel through the terminal – our busiest May on record and almost ten per cent up on last year.

“Summer is always our busiest time of the year and we anticipate our numbers will only continue to grow. Between today and Monday we’ll see over 160,000 passengers arrive and depart at the terminal.

“The annual trade fortnight is also just around the corner and I want our passengers to know we’ll be pulling out all the stops to ensure the airport operates as well as possible.”

He added: “With the school holidays under way we’ll be seeing a lot more families. We know that a busy airport can be a daunting place, especially for parents travelling with young children and we want to make their journey as easy and stress-free as possible.

“At various points throughout the year when we know it’s going to be busier than normal we have a dedicated family lane in place in security to make that part of the journey easier.

“We’ll have a family lane in operation this weekend and next with the start of the annual Edinburgh trade fortnight. It’s important to be ready for security so we’re calling on everyone travelling to be prepared.”

Airport rules state that all liquids in hand baggage should be 100ml or less and fit in a clear, re-sealable plastic bag.

Electronic items such as iPads, laptops and mobile phones should also be removed from their cases and presented separately from main hand luggage.

After Monday’s mayhem, airport bosses apologised for the “frustration and inconvenience” experienced by  passengers – but blamed the hold-ups on an IT issue.

A spokesman insisted previous problems with handling large numbers of passengers in the new security hall had been sorted by recruiting extra staff.