The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Glasgow Airport staff praised for halving number of disruptions
The aviation minister has praised Glasgow Airport for halving the number of offences involving disruptive passengers.
Baroness Vere travelled to Scotland for its launch of Campus Watch 2019.
The scheme, which involves bar and restaurant employees working with security staff and retailers to highlight incidents to the central control room and share information, has been running since 2013.
During her visit, Baroness Vere met staff involved in the campaign who spoke about the 50% reduction in the number of offences involving disruptive behaviour since 2017.
While noting other airports do similar, Baroness Vere told the Press Association: “I know that Glasgow certainly is the leader in all sorts of different ways and they were one of the first to do it.
“What’s really interesting in Glasgow is that we can see that it’s had a bit of an impact.
“Of course (staff) can’t be eyes and ears for absolutely everything all the time.
“It really helps because otherwise you might have passengers who get refused service in one bar, think they’ll have a go in another bar and if you have Campus Watch that other bar can say ‘actually, no, that bloke in the yellow hoodie – we’re not going to serve him’.
“The other thing they do is they then mark that person’s boarding card to make sure that when they go check in, the airline is aware ‘just be careful with that person, keep an eye on them’.”
When asked if it meant a possible reduction in opening hours of some of the air-side bars, she said: “I don’t think we’re quite there yet because I think most people want to enjoy their holiday.
“And travelling to the airport can sometimes be a bit stressful, you’re up really early in the morning.”