How early do I need to get to Leeds Bradford Airport? Bosses issue advice after huge Bank Holiday queues

On Saturday morning (April 30), some passengers were forced to wait in long queues while getting through security. Other travellers were waiting around 90 minutes to get into the departure lounge.

Chris Strather, Leeds, 52, who was travelling said that he “wished he’d not bothered,” but that it “wasn’t too bad.”

A staff member, who doesn’t want to be named, said that the airport is “struggling to recruit people,” and said it’s a similar case across other airports, but said LBA had been criticsed unfairly in the past.

A Leeds Bradford Airport spokesperson said: "We are currently experiencing longer queuing times for our security process during peak travel times, for LBA this is between 5.00am and 9.00am in the morning and late afternoon.

"We would like to apologise to those impacted and we’re working hard to overcome these challenges with ongoing recruitment and training activities and more staff being released to the operation from training each week.

"We have additional opportunities across the operation and encourage anyone looking for work to apply on our website.

"Unfortunately, these current challenges are an industry wide problem, caused by the speed of withdrawal of travel restrictions and testing which has led to the rapid recovery of international travel.

"Passenger numbers in March were almost 3 times greater than in January and continue to grow. Airports across the country are being impacted by lead times to recruit and train additional staff.

"We are actively managing queues to pull people to the front as their flights near departure, which ensures that very few passengers have missed flights."

Bosses at the airport have said the people who have been affected are mainly those arriving too late to the airport.

The spokesperson said: "Those impacted are mainly those who arrive at the airport late or those who have some form of security issue related to their bags".

Staff at the airport have advised people to arrive three hours before departure.

Other advice is to properly prepare carry-on baggage by removing all large electronic devices, carrying liquids and gels less than 100ml in a one litre zip lock bag, not carrying liquids over 100ml or other prohibited items in carry-on baggage

People have also been told to remove all items from pockets, remove any jackets or coats and remove any boots or high heeled shoes and put them and pocket contents through the xray units

LBA said it is confident that with additional staff being recruited the situation will return to more normal queuing in the coming weeks.