PASSENGERS TRAVELLING with Ryanair faced long delays at Dublin and London Stansted airports on Saturday due to lengthy queues at the airline’s check-in desks.
Ryanair apologised yesterday for delays that disrupted the travel plans of hundreds of passengers departing from Stansted. It blamed the problems on staff shortages at its ground handling contractor, Swissport, which meant “an inadequate number of bag drop desks were operating”.
Officials at the airport said that only 11 Ryanair check-in desks were open on Saturday, one of the busiest departure dates of the year.
A spokesman added: “Last weekend they had more than double the number of desks open. I have no idea why they chose to open 11 yesterday.”
Separately, Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said it had to allocate extra space to the airline’s passengers on Saturday afternoon because of 40-minute queues at its check-in desks. The airline opened additional desks to ease the pressure.
“We witnessed very lengthy queues around the Ryanair check-in areas on Saturday afternoon,” a DAA spokeswoman said last night. “Clearly there was an issue. We’d never seen anything like it before. ”
In a statement posted on its website, Ryanair apologised to passengers who missed flights or had their flights delayed at Stansted airport. It stated: “Ryanair operates an on-line check in service for all its passengers. No passengers are required to queue to check in at the airport. Only passengers with checked-in baggage are required to use the bag drop facility.
“[On Saturday] due to staff shortages at our ground handling partner, Swissport, an inadequate number of bag drop desks were operating at Stansted. Ryanair assures its passengers that it is working with Swissport to ensure this situation does not recur.”
A Ryanair spokesman could not be contacted last night.
