BBC news reports from discussion on Radio 4 'Today'
Lucy Moreton, the Immigration Service Union's professional officer, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the government needed to recruit more Border Force workers to cope with the increased demand. Ordinary passport checks took two to four minutes per person, she said, adding that those involving the Covid-related documents increased this to eight to 12 minutes.
"At the moment we are seeing peak-time queues somewhere in the one-to-two-hour mark, where we have got several aircraft that arrive at the same time," Ms Moreton added. She told the BBC News website that larger passenger numbers would further slow checks and create airport queues "three times longer" than at present.
In response, Mr Shapps admitted travel would "be more disrupted than it was back in 2019", but the issue was "going to be on the check-in side rather than the border side" at Heathrow and elsewhere.