Statement - Industrial action by Public and Commercial Services Union

It is hugely regrettable that the PCS Union has chosen to disrupt one of the most important times of the year for international travel by calling a strike by Border Force officers at several UK ports, including Manchester Airport, for 23-26 December and 28-31 December.  We urge union and Government representatives to work together to find a solution to avert this strike action.

Over the next few days, we are expecting UK Border Force to give clear guidance to affected airports on the level of resources they can provide on each of the strike days.  We will then work with our airlines to agree the flying schedule that we can operate safely.

Unfortunately, we expect it will be necessary for airlines to cancel some services on the days impacted by strike action to ensure the number of arriving passengers aligns with lower UK Border Force resources. 

We will be working with our airlines to provide passengers with as much advance notice of cancelled services as possible, so that people have the chance to rebook their travel around the strike days.

Arriving passengers should also be prepared for much longer immigration queues on strike days, owing to reduced Border Force staffing levels.

Those due to travel during the affected period should look out for communications from their airlines over the coming days.