Police and fire staff could be drafted in to help tackle Manchester Airport chaos, says Andy Burnham

Staff from the police force and the fire and rescue service could be drafted in to help tackle the chaos at Manchester Airport, Andy Burnham said today. The Greater Manchester mayor is expecting to meet with the management of the airport tomorrow to discuss the 'concerning' current situation.

It comes after a weekend of long delays for passengers with reports of people jumping over barriers, jostling for space and abandoning their luggage. The situation has been blamed on staff shortages – although one Manchester councillor has claimed the chaos is also down to a 'failure of management'.

Burnham said he will be seeking reassurance about what is being done to bring the situation at the airport under control, but will also offer his support. He said: "I have been in touch with colleagues at Greater Manchester Police at the weekend to see what we can do to support the airport.

READ MORE: 'There's no staff just a sea of people' - passengers met with chaos amid another day of misery at Manchester Airport

"It's a difficult moment for airports around the world having laid low for the pandemic, they've had to scale up very quickly. We understand the challenges that we've got.

"But at the same time, we don't want to see the scenes that we saw at the weekend and we obviously need to work with them to work through those issues and make sure we're managing those things and giving the right information to the public and being clear about the plan to get things to an acceptable level."

Manchester Airports Group is partly owned by the 10 local authorities of Greater Manchester with the biggest stake held by Manchester council. Burnham said that although the airport is run independently of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, it