Association of European airports admits “worrying” scenario
European airports are experiencing waits of up to 3.5 hours at border controls during peak periods and are anticipating a “particularly difficult” summer, pointing to a lack of staff and technical flaws in the implementation of the new European system.
In written responses sent to Lusa, the association of European airports, ACI Europe, says that waiting times at border controls currently reach up to 3.5 hours at peak times, an increase compared to the two hours recorded in the previous survey carried out among its members, on April 9.
In a consultation carried out with 45 airports in 20 Member States of the European Union, ACI Europe concluded that the scenario is “worrying”, with several airports that previously did not report excessive waits, exceeding one hour, now doing so.
“Judging by all the signs, it will be a particularly difficult summer,” indicated the association when asked about the outlook for the coming months in terms of waiting times at border controls and passenger flows.
According to ACI Europe, waiting times have worsened not only for passengers upon arrival, but also on departures, “despite the extended appeal, by Member States, to the partial suspension of the European Union Entry/Exit System”, known by the English acronym EES, which came into force in October 2025.
The association says it does not have a detailed breakdown by traffic categories, namely between Schengen and non-Schengen passengers or between entry and exit controls, but argues that Member States must report waiting times at border control posts in full cooperation with transport operators.
Among the main factors identified for congestion at European airports, he points out “the lack of staff at border controls, the instability of the central IT system and the EES national interfaces”, including interruptions and recurring failures.
ACI Europe also points to technical and operational limitations of self-service kiosks, as well as the “persistent inability to effectively use automatic border control gates” and the limited deployment of the EES mobile app.
The alert comes at a time when there are long queues at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports, associated with border controls and the implementation of the new European system, which replaced traditional stamps in the passport with digital records.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, again admitted suspending, at least in “critical hours”, the new border control system at airports, to ensure that the Portuguese economy “is not penalized”.
Today, the executive vice-president of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said that Brussels is available to support Portugal in relation to the implementation of the EES, admitting difficulties in some Member States.
Asked specifically about the situation in Portugal, she admitted that the new legislation came into force “very recently” and that, “in some Member States”, there are difficulties in its implementation.
Precisely a week ago, the European Commission denied to Lusa that the queues at airports in Portugal were due to the new EES, pointing out that processing records takes, on average, just over a minute.
Once again questioned by Lusa, the European institution recalled its previous response and refused to provide national data, claiming that this is up to the Member States.
At the time, in reaction, the Government rejected the criticism and argued that this was a European problem and not just a national one, recalling that measures will soon be implemented to reinforce the operational response and reduce waiting times, such as increasing the number of manual border control boxes from May 29th.
Furthermore, the PSP will reinforce Portuguese airports with 360 police officers in July.
Portugal began implementing the system on October 12, 2025. But on April 11 and 12 of this year, biometrics collection at exits from Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports had already been suspended due to longer than desired waiting times for passengers to board.
It is envisaged that, in the event of technical failures in the system, Member States may temporarily resort to alternative procedures, including manual registration and passport stamps, until normal operation is restored.
