Passengers using Manchester Airport are set to benefit from the recruitment of 30 new immigration officers to reduce queues at passport control and increase airport security.
Local Border and Immigration Agency heads have been given the money to recruit the staff in addition 17 new employees recruited recently, The Manchester Evening News reported.
The announcement comes after the same newspaper recently detailed passenger complaints of having to queue for up to 50 minutes at the airport’s passport control.
In response to the criticism, Mike Lowe, assistant director for the border agency, told the publication: “We have to maintain the security of the border and to do that we have to check every traveller who arrives.
“There will be some queuing for passengers while we do this, but our aim is to minimise the disruption and we are working towards that in a number of ways.”
“The good news is that we have been given money to recruit an extra 30 immigration officers, he added. “We have never had such an increase in officers in one fell swoop. In the past, it has taken ten years to increase staff by 20.”
It is hoped that the 30 extra immigration staff will be in their new posts by the summer.
