‘The skies are clogged with traffic, I’ve never seen it so busy’: 48 hours at Luton Airport

theguardian.com:

I was working in a high street branch of Boots when I saw an advert for an airport perfume supervisor. I got the job and started in July 2001, back in the old, old terminal at the airport, which was tiny. A couple of months later, I was popping to one of the loos when I saw a huge crowd gathered round a TV screen. I assumed there was a football match on, but when I got closer I saw planes flying into the Twin Towers. For a while it put me off wanting to work here; airports felt tense and a real target. Thankfully, I continued.

I’ve worked my way up since then. When the store here expanded to the big walk-through shop it is today, I came back as general manager. People say once you’ve worked in travel retail, you’ll never want to return to other stores. We rarely deal with refunds or complaints, and those who pass through tend to be in a good mood, heading off on their holidays.

We’re a team of over 100 full-time staff: that’s a lot of people. The thing is, you have to walk through the shop to make it to the departure gates. We don’t have a door. That means we can’t ever shut shop for the night; we’re a 24/7 operation and need staff here constantly. During Covid, when the airport was almost empty and shops closed up, we had to call in contractors. They erected a fence through the entire shop while our staff were furloughed. It had been a really good year for us in 2019 – the team had worked so hard – so seeing the shop shut down and locked away was really quite upsetting. It was an emotional day when that fence finally came down again. And we returned with every single one of our staff: none made redundant, or lost to the virus.

As a chaplain, I offer spiritual or pastoral support to anyone in need, and wearing my hi-vis I