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Ryanair is asking the Walloon government for additional staff at Charleroi Airport. If necessary, the military should step in to solve the problems at the airport, according to the airline.
Ryanair is calling on the Walloon government to act quickly and address the shortage of security staff at Charleroi Airport. According to the airline, 2,000 passengers have already missed their flights in the first weeks of April due to long queues at security. Ryanair is therefore proposing to deploy additional security staff or even military personnel.
According to the Irish low-cost carrier, travelers have experienced delays of up to ninety minutes at security checks in recent weeks. With the Easter weekend – traditionally one of the peak periods at the airport – now starting, Ryanair believes that something urgently needs to change. “We’ve been asking the airport for several months to resolve this issue, but they haven’t been able to do so, so now we’re asking the Walloon government to ensure that families can travel smoothly over the Easter weekend,” says Neal McMaham, Chief Operations Officer, in an interview with Belgian broadcaster VRT.
Military personnel as an emergency measure?
Due to the staffing shortage, typically only six of the eleven security checkpoints at the airport are open. This, according to Ryanair, is “unacceptable.” The airline proposes two possible solutions. First: hiring a second security company that can provide additional staff to man all the checkpoints, something that has been done in the past. The second option goes further: deploying trained military personnel, a strategy that Ryanair says has also been used at other European airports.
According to Ryanair, the Walloon government is currently analyzing the issue, but emphasizes that quick action is necessary due to the high traffic expected this weekend.