The waiting time at border control at Lisbon airport reached a peak of two hours this Sunday, March 29th for those who arrived at 8:30 am, but has since decreased 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 at 06:00 and at 11:00 were still waiting in line at border controlofficial 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 08:30”.
“At this moment, the maximum waiting time is below 60 minutes”, added the airport manager.
Also contacted by Lusa, PSP spokesperson, Sérgio Soares, corroborated that “the peak in the arrivals hall” at Lisbon airport “was around 8:30 and there were around two hours of waiting”, currently being “approximately 30 minutes”.
The official highlighted that the PSP was “at maximum capacity” at Humberto Delgado Airport throughout the morning, in line with the contingency plan drawn up for the Easter period, with “all checkpoints available in the infrastructure occupied by police officers” and a new border control zone, with 10 additional checkpoints, also “completely filled”.
As he detailed, The contingency plan currently in force foresees a reinforcement of 30 police officers with border guard training at Lisbon airport and another temporary reinforcement of 15 agents in Faro, given the expected increase in passengers during the Easter period.
The objective is to ensure that “the average waiting time is as low as possible, without neglecting the security and resilience of the borders”.
Additionally, a new border control zone has been activated at Lisbon airportmaximizing manual control with 10 more stations and ‘e-gates’ (automatic doors).
During the Christmas and New Year period there were several constraints at Lisbon airport, with passengers having to wait several hours to pass through border control.
These constraints in the arrivals area of Lisbon airport led the Government to temporarily suspend the European border control system for non-EU citizens, called the European Union Entry/Exit System (EES), which is now operational again.
In response, however, sent to the Lusa agency, MAI stated that the EES “has been gradually resumed since the beginning of the year and is now fully active”.
The EES is being implemented in a phased manner in the European Union, and its 100% operation across the entire community is scheduled for April.
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