Security scanner upgrade causes lengthy airport queues

Thursday 12 October 2023

Long queues for security faced passengers at Jersey Airport this morning as a new scanner was installed.

Pictures posted on social media showed the queue for security stretching the entire length of the departures hall and out through the fire door at the southern end of the building.

The longest queue was experienced between 07:00 and 08:00, with one passenger contacting Express to complain about a lack of communication to passengers, notably the failure to issue any advance advice about allowing extra time.

Three departing flights, to Heathrow, Gatwick and Exeter, saw delays of around half an hour while another Gatwick flight took off 89 minutes late.

A spokesperson for Jersey Airport said the issue resulted from work to install a third scanning machine, after two others were brought into operation in late July.

Pictured: The security queue stretched the full length of the departures hall and continued through a fire door.

In a statement, the spokesperson continued: "Due to the installation of the new scanning machine, space is currently restricted on the other side of the boarding pass check.

"We were on-hand explaining to customers and no passengers missed their flights."

Some passengers said that although the queues had been long, they had been fast-moving, but others described the situation as "a shambles" and said it appeared there were insufficient staff working in security.

Video: The new scanners were installed at Jersey Airport in July.

After the first two scanners were installed in the summer, one of the old scanners was left in place temporarily as what was described as a "resilience measure" – this old machine was being replaced by the third new one this week.

The is part of a £3 million project to improve customer facilities and upgrade security technology, with new security equipment becoming compulsory for most British airports by June 2024.