Humberto Delgado Airport, Lisbon
Longer delays during Easter week. Passengers report waiting for 5 hours at Humberto Delgado Airport.
Who landed this Sunday morning in Lisbon airport, the time of wait at border control at 8:30 am, it reached two hours, having then managed to reduce it to less than an hour, according to PSP and ANA.
Contacted by the Lusa agency following reports from passengers indicating that they had arrived in Lisbon via 6am and 11am they were still waiting in the border control queue, an official source from ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal indicated that “the maximum waiting time for arrivals at Humberto Delgado Airport reached two hours, with a peak recorded at 8:30 am”.
Also contacted by Lusa, PSP spokesperson, Sérgio Soares, corroborated that “the peak in the arrivals hall” at Lisbon airport “was around 8:30 am and there were around two hours of waiting.”
The person in charge highlighted that the PSP was “in maximum capacity” at Humberto Delgado Airportin line with the contingency plan drawn up for the Easter period, with “all available checkpoints in the infrastructure occupied by police officers” and a new border control zone, with 10 additional checkpoints, also “completely filled”.
During the Christmas and New Year period there were several at Lisbon airport, with passengers having to wait several hours to pass through border control.
These constraints in the arrival area of Lisbon airport led the Government to temporarily suspend the European border control system for non-EU citizenscalled Input/Output System (EES) of the European Union, which is now functioning again.
The new European Entry/Exit System, for digital registration of foreign citizens entering the Schengen Area, will complete its implementation phase on April 9, and it is mandatory for Member States to register 100% of non-EU citizens by March 31.
A implementation “is ending precisely at the peak of travel during the Easter holidays”warned European airport association ACI Europe and airline industry association A4E in a joint statement.
Os airports and airlines in European Union (EU) warned waiting times longer than two hours in border controls for third country citizens this week, the Easter week.
These expected delays are due to “operational problems” with the implementation of the new European access mechanism.
