Manchester Airport suspends sale of fast track passes

Northern hub has been plagued by slow queues in the first quarter of 2022

Fast track passes unavailable at Terminal 3 (Getty Images)

Manchester Airport has suspended security fast track passes for all three of its terminals, with customers only able to buy passes for passport control at one terminal.

The security passes, which usually cost £4 per person, allowing access to shorter, quicker security lanes than the general ones, are currently unavailable for most passengers.

A message on Manchester Airport’s website says: “We are currently unable to offer our Security FastTrack service to customers online. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, please check back regularly for reopening dates.

“Passport control FastTrack is still available at Terminal 1.”

Initially, the airport’s management group told the Manchester Evening News that passes would be available outside of peak hours, but has since confirmed that they are unavailable for all timings.

An airport spokesperson said that all current bookings for fast passes would be honoured.

There was a rush on the speedy-security passes in recent weeks due to longer and slower than usual queues through the airport, which left some families missing their flights, losing out on thousands of pounds.

In April, the airport’s chief executive Karen Smart resigned, while the new chief executive, Charlie Cornish, issued an apology to passengers in an online open letter.

“I apologise to anyone who has been affected by the disruption,” wrote Mr Cornish.

“We are committed to getting customers away on their trips, especially as we know many have waited such a long time to get back to travelling internationally.

“Having endured the worst crisis in our 84-year history, I can assure you that there is no one more pleased to see passengers back in our terminals than we are.

“We had to cut costs just to survive – it was as simple as that. We reduced expenditure wherever we could, and as a last resort we had to offer colleagues the option of voluntary redundancy because of the uncertainty about when international travel would resume.”

On 22 April, Manchester Airport reopened its shuttered Terminal 3 to deal with “the increased demand following the easing of travel restrictions“.

Manchester is one of several UK and Irish airports to experience agonising queues as demand for travel returns, with some industry experts saying airports and airlines have failed to “scale up” in time for the spring rush on holidays.

In March, Dublin Airport was forced to suspend its fast-track passes for a spell, with management refunding all passengers who had bought one between 25-27 March.

The Independent has approached Manchester Airport Group for comment.