Edinburgh Airport warned of queues and disruption as it returns to full service for the first time since the pandemic - and warned of banned items that could make delays worse. 

The pandemic saw the number of passengers passing through the airport dwindle from nearly 15 million in 2020 to three million in 2021. 

However, as the airport awaits its first true summer peak in more than two years, it is also expecting low-staff numbers to cause delays. 

In an effort to help passengers pass through security faster, an airport employee revealed the top items that get confiscated from passengers. 

The main items include whisky, sauces, snow globes and even Irn-Bru. Many passengers also forget about jams, honey or spreads in their hand luggage. 

A security officer at Edinburgh Airport Susan McGregor told STV: "To stop queues building up, they really need to be taking iPads, laptops and all liquids out their bag, making sure that they only travel with a one-litre sized bag.

“It has to be sealed and not contain any jams, pastes or anything that is over 100ml to stop getting held up in security.

She also reminded passengers to empty their reusable water bottles before reaching the front of the queue. 

READ MORE: Scotland face mask rules: Where do you need to wear masks in Scotland?

Edinburgh Airport is predicting numbers of passengers will more than treble in one year. 

Chief executive of Edinburgh Airport Gordon Dewar said: "We lost many valued colleagues and our recruitment campaign to employ 1,000 people across the airport has been underway since the end of 2021

"Not all of those additional people will be in place as quickly as we would like and therefore it is inevitable there will be some queues and disruption as the recovery begins and we take the first steps to normality.

“As we do that, we are grateful to passengers for their patience and understanding and ask that they allow themselves to carefully plan and understand what they need to do before they get here.

“We all want to put on as good a service as we can and will be working hard to do that, drafting in people from across the airport to support passengers and ensuring people have everything they need to get through the airport quickly and comfortably.”

He said other contributing issues to delays might be differing Covid entry requirements, security preparation and some passengers returning to travel for the first time since the pandemic.

Adam Wilson, operations director at Edinburgh Airport, said: “We’ve drawn up a range of plans to deal with potential scenarios but unfortunately this may not avoid queuing at peak times.

“We clearly hope this won’t be the case, but we think it’s better to be honest and ask passengers to work with us to make the process as smooth as possible.

“We’ll be using our social media channels, our website, our emails to inform and best prepare people for their return to travel. We hope people understand the challenges we are likely to face, and we are thankful for their patience.”