Jorge Silva / X
Queues at Humberto Delgado Airport, Lisbon
The regime was designed to be exceptional, but the Government has been putting pressure on the PSP to speed up passport queues on the Humberto Delgado, which is breaking successive passenger records.
Simplified border control at Lisbon airport is compromising national security and pressure from the Government to reduce waiting times in passport queues (at an airport that breaks successive passenger records) does not make the work of the PSP easier, which since November 2023 has ensured control of air borders replacing the extinct SEF.
The warning comes from the same police, which gives a concrete example: the arrest, in August, of a passenger at Humberto Delgado airport, as he was preparing to board a flight to Brazil, a few hours after allegedly committing a murder in Porto. At the time of the escape attempt, the simplified system was being used in departures.
The suspect was only identified because the officer on duty found his nervous behavior strange and decided to go beyond the minimum check, having consulted police databases, which already contained an alert from the Judiciary Police.
In practice, the simplified system created the conditions for the individual to leave the country without leaving a computer trail.
For the police officers who work in the PSP’s Airport Security and Border Control Division (DSACF), this episode is not a coincidence, but an example of the “danger of hyperutilization” of a regime designed to be exceptional. In the conclusions of an internal plenary, professionals accuse the political option of favor reducing queues “in the name of private interest” and they consider that reality clashes with the official discourse on the need for strict control of the external borders of the Schengen area.
The simplified system is provided for in the Schengen border code as an appeal mechanism in specific situations. In practice, it translates into a much faster control: the agent only confirms that the document belongs to the passenger, puts the stamp and authorizes departure or entry. There is no consultation of national or international databases and the movement of passengers across the Portuguese air border is not recorded in the computer system.
The balance of the PSP plenary is harsh: this model will have been used over the years to “mask the lack of staff”, allowing more agents to be concentrated on arrivals, where the simplified system is almost never admissible, according to the document to which Público had access.
Furthermore, Portugal is one of the main gateways to the Schengen areain particular with regard to intercontinental flights from South America, North America and Africa. The union recalls that the Portuguese responsibility is not only with its own territory, but with all member states that depend on a secure external border and mutual trust. In Lisbon, this pressure is added to the constant growth in air traffic.
The Lisbon airport numbers help to understand the context: in 2024, they passed through the infrastructure 35.1 million passengers (between boardings, disembarks and transit), above the 33.6 million in 2023 and the previous maximum of 31.2 million recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. European routes continue to dominate, but long-haul connections with Brazil and the United States have contributed decisively to the increase in demand. In parallel, the concessionaire ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal records record net results, with 417 million euros in 2023, a direct reflection of the growth in the number of passengers.
It is in this scenario of expansion that the Government decided to impose new maximum waiting times in passport control queues: 75 minutes for arrivals and 35 for departures, values that will still have to be reduced to 55 and 25 minutes, respectively. According to the interministerial order, the PSP has 100 days to adapt to these service standards. Police consider, however, that these objectives are unrealistic without “structural changes” to the infrastructure – more checkpoints, better distribution of flights throughout the day and less concentration of thousands of passengers at short intervals.
While operational goals and decisions are being discussed, a profound transformation of the border control model itself in the European Union is also underway. On October 12th, the new Entry and Exit System (EES)which replaces the traditional manual stamp with an electronic record of the entries and exits of third country citizens. Date, time and border post are recorded, with information shared in real time by all Schengen States and interoperable with other security databases.
From December 10th, EES will also include the collection of biometric data – four fingerprints and a facial image – upon the traveler’s first entry into the Schengen area. Full implementation is scheduled for April 2026. This system will automatically identify those who exceed the legal period of stay, reinforcing the fight against irregular immigration, document forgery, terrorism and organized crime. But all of this has an operational cost: more steps, more data collected, more time per passenger.
