Heathrow’s flagship terminal 5 (which hosts British Airways flights) has been plagued with a border control crisis since the UK Border Agency announced major personnel cuts earlier this month.
The staff cuts have been coupled with stricter security controls at the airports to create a chaotic situation.
Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz said Green has been summoned to the Commons along with officials from British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and the British Airports Authority in May to explain about the “chaos.”
“This is a very, very difficult state of affairs and it needs to be sorted out quickly. Either the [UK Border Force] needs to bring back risk-based checks or it needs to hire more staff,” Vaz told The Financial Times.
This comes as media reports said passengers arriving at Heathrow have faced delays of up to three hours for immigration controls over the past week.
The situation is feared to render Heathrow services plainly unusable due to the surge of air travels to London for the Olympics.
AMR/HJL/HE