The entry into force of the new border control system worsened the queues at Lisbon Airport, with waits of several hours and queues whose end could not even be identified. The “situation is not bearable for a long time”, says Paulo Jorge Santos, president of the Police Professionals Union Association (ASPP/PSP), to DN.
In the opinion of the union leader, there is no capacity to meet the demands of the new system, which includes the collection of biometric data from passengers coming from outside the Schengen Area. “The airport will not have the capacity to process all passengers under the new regime”, he considers.
According to Paulo Jorge Santos, “the endless queues” are proof of this incapacity. “It was proven that the structure was overcrowded. Despite all the boxes being fully staffed and all RAPIDs working, the queue was still endless”, he reports.
Agents had to activate the simplified control mechanism to reduce queues at departures and prevent passengers from missing flights. Simplified control, as the name suggests, consists of a faster check, with fewer questions to travelers.
Another aggravating factor, according to the president of the association, is the health status of the police officers. “The police are burnout,” he says. But there are more problems. “The situation was further aggravated by the inoperability of the RAPIDs (eight were out of order), which resulted in very long waiting times for arrivals”, he adds. “It was only possible to mitigate further damage by reinforcing the number of airport squadrons, leaving these units short-handed”, he highlights.
The union association argues that it is necessary to increase the number of personnel — a long-standing demand from the police —, but also internal changes at the airport. “ASPP considers that, in addition to reinforcing staff, it will be necessary to institute internal measures in the airport structure that are in line with the policy that ANA seeks to implement”, he concludes.
ANA wants maximum waiting times at airports and points out problems in RAPID systems
Airport manager ANA argued this Tuesday (14) that the technical challenge of the new border control system cannot put into the background the guarantee of maximum waiting time and pointed out problems in the RAPID systems.
“The technical and coordination challenge of this evolution cannot, however, leave behind the need for these entities to guarantee passengers a maximum waiting time at borders, similar to the service levels required for processes under the responsibility of ANA”, he pointed out, in response to Lusa. On the other hand, he stated that he hopes that the reinforcement of resources by the competent authorities will allow the “implementation of a maximum waiting time commitment at the country’s borders”
amanda.lima@dn.pt