Baggage handling firms are blaming enhanced security checks for “a complete standstill” in new hiring, contributing to disruption this summer at Dublin Airport.
A range of businesses working at the airport will give evidence on disruption and cancellations at the airport when they appear before the Oireachtas transport committee on Tuesday.
Alongside baggage handlers, senior executives from DAA and Aer Lingus are due to appear.
Both Swissport and Sky Handling Partner (SHP) will point the finger at difficulties associated with recruitment in the first three months of the year due to the implementation of EU regulations on enhanced security background checks.
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Swissport will also point to the impact of problems in other parts of the airport and aviation more widely on its business. “These issues, combined with knock-on delays from other parts of the journey – security, check-in, baggage, flight schedules, air traffic – have led to the very challenging conditions over the last few months across the UK and Ireland,” it will say.
“At Dublin we have specifically seen an adverse impact from the significant queues at security, continued volatility in flight schedules and infrastructure challenges.”
A ban on people with non-EU driving licences driving for work at the airport will also be blamed for difficulties with baggage handling, which is said to be one of a range of complex logistical and resourcing issues leading to delays, frustration and confusion for travellers.
Swissport will tell the committee that the enhanced checks resulted in a “complete standstill in the approval and issuing of airport ID passes, effectively resulting in no employees being recruited in the first three months of the year”.
The firm will tell the committee that while things have improved, approvals can still take four weeks, and “we have found some prospective recruits cannot wait for the time it takes for this process to be completed”.
“Security checks are of course vital to the safety of all airport users, but we must be clear that this has delayed our ability to effectively train and deploy new employees,” the firm will say, adding that in the United Kingdom temporary escorted passes have been used.
Striking a similar tone, SHP will tell the committee: “Whilst security and safety are paramount in any airport environment the processing time to perform these additional checks was excessive – taking several weeks for airport IDs to be completed.” This meant there was “no material uplift in resource levels” in the first quarter of the year.
While processing times have improved for security clearance, the driving licence issue is a second “source of frustration”. The firms need drivers trained to operate vehicles that ferry passenger baggage and cargo to and from the aircraft side, the committee will hear.
“It is important that the Department of Transport and NDLS [National Driver Licence Service] revisit these restrictions as this would immediately provide a large increase in the driving pool available to SHP.”
