Manchester Airport’s managing director has stepped down amid Easter Holiday chaos.
Karen Smart took on the senior role at the start of the Covid pandemic but was with the company for eight years.
Her departure comes amid demands for police to step in as UK airports are plunged into ‘complete disarray’.
Passenger numbers have surged as families attempt to fly abroad post-lockdown – but a Covid spike has led to nightmare staff shortages.
More than 1,000 flights have been axed across the country in just the last few days, with Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham airports facing the worst of the disruption.
Piles of suitcases have been left in terminals after travellers abandoned the wait to reclaim their baggage and instead left for home.
In a statement, Manchester Airport officials said Ms Smart had decided to move to the south of England to be close to her family.
She has guided the airport ‘through the most challenging period of its 84-year history’, Charlie Cornish, the group’s chief executive officer, said.
He added: ‘I am sorry to lose Karen after her years of valuable service, but also understand her desire to return to the South for family reasons and indeed to explore new career opportunities.’
The airport faces challenges ahead but ‘will soon start to see the benefits of the recovery plans Ms Smart has helped put in place’, a statement read.
Ian Costigan is set to take on the role of interim managing director and will be leading the recruitment drive bosses are praying will solve issues ahead of the summer.
Will Wilkinson, who flew from Manchester Airport, told Metro.co.uk he is stranded in Berlin with a colleague after his plane landed too late to make a connecting flight.
The pair have paid ‘the best part’ of £650 for a new flight to Athens in order to attend a work function in time.
‘Frankly it’s the worst airport experience I have had. Complete disarray’, he said. ‘I felt sorry for the staff as they are quite clearly being given no leadership, direction or management.
‘It was a complete free-for-all. The check-in queue took the best part of 45 mins – worth noting I had checked in online and only had a bag to drop in – and the security queue stretched right the way back to the end of the terminal three car park.
‘Once on the plane the steward joked “put your hands up if you joined the queue in Worsley”.’
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said he is meeting airport bosses to address the ‘concerning’ situation and has confirmed police could be summoned to help.
He said: ‘It’s a difficult moment for airports around the world having laid low for the pandemic, they’ve had to scale up very quickly.
‘But at the same time, we don’t want to see the scenes that we saw at the weekend and we obviously need to work with them to work through those issues and make sure we’re managing those things and giving the right information to the public and being clear about the plan to get things to an acceptable level.’
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