The chartered flight holding 180 farm workers will land in London’s Stansted Airport from Bucharest to fill the growing demand as UK supermarkets struggle to fill their shelves with fruit and vegetables during the coronavirus lockdown. The flight, chartered by an unknown food produce company, will be the first of up to six which will operate over the next few months as the farming industry struggles to cope with widespread staff shortages.

The European labourers will arrive in the UK on a flight by Air Charter Service (ACS), a British company that organises charter flights, after UK airlines were forced to ground their flights amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chartered Boeing 737 will arrive at Stansted airport on Thursday and the labourers will be transported by bus to sites across the southeast and Lincolnshire to fill the shortfalls.

The workers will be expected to maintain two metre social distancing and will not be allowed to leave Romania if they display any symptoms of the invisible killer disease.

It comes after concerns Britain would face massive food shortages if it failed to fill almost 100,000 vacant picking jobs.

Before the lockdown many large farms turned to chartering flights to transport workers from eastern Europe.

But the National Farmers’ Union, Association of Labour Providers and the charity Concordia have been stopped in their tracks because of country lockdowns and several airlines grounding flights throughout the continent.

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Nick Marston, chairman of British Summer Fruits, which this year is launching an initiative to encourage more people to apply for seasonal picking jobs, warned that while there are many workers already living in the UK, “this alone isn’t enough”.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “In recent years as much as 98 percent of seasonal workers have come from eastern European countries, like Bulgaria and Romania.

“We do have a reasonable number of workers already living here, a community built up from seasonal workers who have moved here permanently, but this alone is not enough.

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“Picking season really takes off in April and May when the strawberries ripen, and then we have raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.

“I’m anticipating a significant shortfall in workers from outside the UK applying for these positions, which is worrying.

“The whole of northern Europe is has been finding it difficult to recruit.”

Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland issued an appeal to those who have lost their jobs or have been furloughed during the coronavirus crisis to fill the shortfall.

Andrew McCornick, president of the union, said: “These are unprecedented times and the sight of empty shelves in some stores, both large and small, clearly illustrates the uncertainty and worry that many in our society are facing.

“Huge problems around labour are looming large, particularly for our soft fruit and veg growers, with novel ways of seeking staff being considered. Those who have lost their jobs or are on unpaid leave in the hospitality sector are being sought to allow planting and harvesting to be undertaken.”

The wage for fruit picking can vary between £11 an hour and £15 an hour, depending on productivity.

First-time pickers will be trained, with the only requirement being that the person is aged 18 or over, fit, healthy and willing to get stuck into hard graft.

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