Chaos at Portuguese airports – not just our problem says Portugal’s government

Portugal’s Secretary of State for Infrastructures, Hugo Espírito Santo said that the huge queues affecting Lisbon airport and some other airports in Europe is a European problem and not just Portugal’s.

He said on Friday that the government was acting to sort out the problems of long queues at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport which were filmed by passengers last week, and snaked into the Duty Free shopping area in some cases.

In statements to the press at the inauguration of a direct Delta Airlines Flight between Porto and New York-JFK, Hugo Espírito Santo flagged up reports of similar problems at Amsterdam, Milan, Munich, and Tenerife, stressing “it’s not just a Portuguese problem”.

“We have to recognise that this is not a Portuguese problem, it’s a European problem right now,” he said.

The problems partly stem from the Entry/Exit System (EES) – an automated digital border check used by the European Union to log the entry and exit of non-EU travellers. It replaces traditional physical passport stamps with biometric tracking (facial scans and fingerprints) at all external borders of the Schengen Area, including at airports like Lisbon.

The secretary of State said that the government was not happy with the situation and that it was acting on several fronts such as increasing capacity at airports at Lisbon, Faro, and Porto by beefing up technology and human resources.

But last week the European Union had denied that queues at airports in Portugal were caused by the Entry/Exit System, stating that the average processing times are just over one minute.

The Commission says media reports are being monitored and confirms ongoing communication with Portugal and other Member States regarding the Entry/Exit System (EES). It emphasises that delays often stem from factors unrelated to the EES.

On May 18, it was announced that the PSP (Public Security Police) will reinforce Portuguese airports with an additional 360 officers in July—a measure aimed at reducing waiting times for passengers arriving from outside the Schengen area.

Source: Lusa. Image: Inês Sequeira, LinkedIn/INÁCIO ROSA/LUSA
Copyright: © 2010 LUSA – Agência de Notícias de Portugal, S.A.