Edinburgh Airport have warned holidaymakers to "expect disruption" this summer as the site handles a huge influx of passengers.
Impacted by the pandemic and travel restrictions, the capital had seen a severely reduced number of people using the airport during the summer of 2020 and 2021.
However, with rules easing, Edinburgh Airport will be running a full summer schedule for the first time since 2019, and has asked passengers for "patience" as they adapt.
In recent weeks, many using the airport have been caught up in longer lines for security and baggage checks, as more people get back to both internal and international travel.
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With the full summer peak to come, the airport said they handled three million passengers in 2021, but have stated they are expecting to handle more than treble this amount in 2022.
Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “The return of passengers to Edinburgh Airport is both exciting for the team here but challenging at the same time. During the pandemic, we lost many valued colleagues and our recruitment campaign to employ 1,000 people across the airport has been underway since the end of 2021.
“Not all of those additional people will be in place as quickly as we would like and therefore it is inevitable there will be some queues and disruption as the recovery begins and we take the first steps to normality.
“As we do that, we are grateful to passengers for their patience and understanding and ask that they allow themselves to carefully plan and understand what they need to do before they get here. We all want to put on as good a service as we can and will be working hard to do that, drafting in people from across the airport to support passengers and ensuring people have everything they need to get through the airport quickly and comfortably.”
The airport is predicting numbers will more than treble in one year, and that surge in growth and the tough recruitment markets are two of the factors involved.
Other contributing issues are differing COVID entry requirements, security preparation and passengers returning to travel for the first time since the pandemic.
Although sharing that plans are in place to cope, Adam Wilson, Operations Director at Edinburgh Airport said: “Operations virtually shut down during the pandemic and although we have been planning for a sudden rise in demand, we cannot deny it will have an impact on our operations as we look to readjust.
“We’ve drawn up a range of plans to deal with potential scenarios but unfortunately this may not avoid queuing at peak times. We clearly hope this won’t be the case, but we think it’s better to be honest and ask passengers to work with us to make the process as smooth as possible.
“We’ll be using our social media channels, our website, our emails to inform and best prepare people for their return to travel. We hope people understand the challenges we are likely to face, and we are thankful for their patience.”
