Airport bosses in Aberdeen are bracing themselves for “frenetic Friday” as the great summer getaway gets underway.
About 7,000 people are due to fly out of Aberdeen Airport in just 24 hours – 2,500 more than on a typical busy day.
Passengers are due to board chartered flights to destinations including Tunisia, Ibiza, Corfu and the Dalaman coast as the school holidays get into full swing.
Roger Hunt, operations director, said his team were well prepared, with 130 security staff in place and a further 20 office workers poised to step in as queues start to build.
But he said travellers could also do their bit by making themselves familiar with the drill in order to keep delays to a minimum.
Mr Hunt said it was possible for passengers to move through security in 30 seconds, but poor organisation could increase the time to two minutes.
Multiply that by 7,000 and it’s easy to see how queues form and frustrations mounts, he added.
“During the year we have a high number of business and regular travellers and we find at this time of year, people going on holiday for the first time that year or haven’t been through an airport for a while, will be less familiar with the procedures,” he said.
Mr Hunt said “several” sacks of prohibited goods, such as over-sized bottles of toiletries and perfume, were thrown out every day because they broke security rules.
“We have to dispose of quite a lot of items and we really want to avoid that,” he added.
Backup teams will be monitoring queues on Friday and reassuring passengers about the wait to get through security.
“They will be going to the back of queues, where people tend to get anxious,” he said.
!It is amazing what a difference it makes when you can tell a person how long they have to wait. You can really help to take the stress out of the situation.”
“Friday will be a bit like the October getaway. It will be ‘frenetic Friday’ but we are well organised for it.”