Planes, trains and automobiles (ferries too) likely to endure Easter travel chaos

Those planning an Easter getaway are facing the prospect of a tricky, and likely more expensive journey, than they were hoping for.

There is disruption for ferries to France amid the fallout from the P&O sackings scandal, airports are struggling to cope with higher demand and, to cap it all, there are big engineering works planned on the railways.

Here, Sky News takes a look at how each major area for travel is shaping up as the holiday rush gathers speed.

Ferries

The loss of many P&O Ferries services is tipped to have a major impact over the Easter period.

There has been a gaping hole in capacity, especially for popular cross-Channel services, since P&O found itself in hot water over its decision to make almost 800 seafarers redundant via a video message last month.

That is because some ships with their new crews have failed safety checks while others have been unable to run, with The Pride of Hull, for example, stuck in Rotterdam.

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She will not sail across the North Sea again until at least after the holiday, leaving only the Pride of Rotterdam in service.

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Crucially, an agreement that meant rival DFDS would carry P&O passengers is coming to an end.

From Friday, its regular services to and from Dover or Newhaven to France will be unable to take P&O customers.

DFDS told Sky News it could simply not extend the 14-day deal because its ships were already full.

“As we look towards the weekend and Easter, we have very high booking levels, which sadly means we won’t have any spare capacity available for other operators.

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“We will of course do everything we can outside the peak weekends to carry as many P&O customers as possible.”

Its statement added: “We are adding extra sailings where we can, and have also been able to move some traffic to our new unaccompanied route from Sheerness to Calais to help relieve the congestion in and around the port.”

P&O Ferries said it was getting ready to resume services on “a number of vital routes”, adding that it has been working with regulators to make sure the ships are safe to sail.

Two of the vessels – Pride of Kent and Spirit of Britain – are expected to be ready to sail between Dover and Calais by next week, subject to regulatory sign-off.

The European Causeway is also expected to sail between Larne and Cairnryan, along with the Pride Of Hull between Hull and Rotterdam.

A spokesperson said: “For those customers still affected by wider disruption, we are providing refunds to all passengers booked to travel with us to whom we have not been able to provide alternative services.

“Customers can contact our customer service team by email or phone for a refund. Anyone who has had their trip disrupted with P&O will also receive a free trip to be used on a future journey with us, that can be taken later in the year.

“We thank our customers for their patience during this time and we apologise to those customers whose journeys have been cancelled and disrupted.”

So could Eurostar or Getlink, which owns the Eurotunnel service, take some of the strain?

A spokesperson for Getlink said its Easter holiday season began last Friday and runs for three weeks, adding: “We have very high bookings for the coming weekend and the next on our passenger service, and bookings continue to flow in.

“We will be running up to four departures per hour at peak travel times to make sure everyone can travel.

“Our truck shuttles are also running with very high volumes, with additional departures being made available to carry the extra traffic.

“Services are running well for both passenger and freight, without additional waiting time on our terminals.

“Traffic congestion in Kent at this time is the result of the absence of three P&O ferries from the short straits route during the busiest period of sustained cross-Channel traffic since 2019.”

Airports

Disruption at airports and for airlines has been a theme of the past week as Easter holidays began in some parts of the country and for many private schools.

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The main issue is one of staffing, with both clearly unable to handle the pick-up in demand they have seen in the run-up to Easter following the damage inflicted by the pandemic.

Passenger numbers at airports will swell this weekend and into the following week, though the industry body AOA was currently unable to put a figure on the numbers expected when contacted by Sky News.

Compounding efforts to hire workers and resolve queues – which have hit the likes of Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham airports – are backlogs in security clearance procedures to work ‘airside’.

It is understood these are currently taking up to six months to complete.

A shortage of Border Force staff has also been highlighted by airports.

A spokesperson for the UK’s largest airport, Heathrow, told Sky News it was deploying as many extra staff as possible to help cope with the rush.

“The Easter holiday is the first time where UK travel restrictions have been fully removed since the start of the pandemic and we are expecting passenger numbers, not seen since early March 2020.

“We have been preparing for this for many months, but like most airports we do anticipate that the travel experience may take slightly longer during peak periods.”

Airlines

Their efforts to get back up to speed have been hampered by COVID infections among staff – hitting easyJet the worst over the past week with dozens of flights cancelled daily.

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British Airways has cancelled a handful of services because of staff sickness but its wider departure board situation is complicated by destinations affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID lockdowns in places such as China.

Its reduced schedules also reflect struggles to fix IT systems that have caused disruption – the worst in February – with its flying programme curtailed until the end of May while it “rebuilds” operational resilience.

The advice for passengers is to check what COVID clearances you may need at your destination before arriving at the airport and leave plenty of time to clear check-in and security to avoid disappointment.

Rail

It is a feature of Easter travel that going by train is never easy.

Network Rail traditionally uses the holiday, away from peak commuting demand, to carry out essential maintenance and it has highlighted three major works that will disrupt passengers’ journeys.

• The West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes Central will be closed throughout the Easter weekend. Customers planning journeys between London Euston and Scotland are advised to travel either side of the long weekend. It warned this will affect Liverpool and Manchester City football supporters travelling to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday 16 April and Manchester City fans going to the Vitality Women’s FA Cup semi-final.

• No Southern services will be able to run to and from London Victoria, with most trains diverted into London Bridge.

• There will be no direct trains between London and Stansted Airport at Easter, with buses replacing Stansted Express trains between Waltham Cross and the airport.

Road

A surge in fuel prices is not expected to deter many families desperate to reconnect following the end of restrictive COVID measures.

Research from motoring groups on the numbers expected to take to the roads over the Easter weekend itself are not due until next week but it is already clear that the start of the school holidays will be very busy.

The RAC estimates 20.8 million leisure trips will be taken by drivers this weekend alone.

Its survey of 1,435 drivers’ plans suggests that Saturday is likely to see the greatest numbers on the roads.

National Highways urged motorists to plan their journeys in advance and added that roadworks on major routes would not be expected to cause more disruption than witnessed on a typical Friday peak.

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