Airport queues in Portugal are “an embarrassment” for the government
The Secretary of State for Infrastructure pointed out that the root of the problem is clear and is related to "the lack of" police agents. The challenge is to have the situation resolved by June.
The Secretary of State for Infrastructure said on Wednesday that the government is monitoring the queues at Lisbon airport “very closely”, acknowledging that they are an embarrassment for the government, which he hopes to have the problem resolved by the summer.
“The situation at the borders is an embarrassment for the government. There is no other name for it. We have to be humble about what we do, and right now, it is an embarrassment. The only thing we could do was apologise”, said Hugo Espírito Santo in Macau at the 50th congress of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT).
The minister said that the causes have been identified and that solutions are being evaluated, praising the help that ANA – Aeroportos has provided in the situation. “We are currently monitoring this issue very closely. We have five ministers directly involved, and we are looking at the data daily to see how long it takes to cross the border in Lisbon (…)”, added the Secretary of State for Infrastructure.
Hugo Espírito Santo pointed out that the root of the problem is clear and is related to “the lack of PSP agents”, compounded by “a difficulty and instability from a technological point of view, especially in the e-gates”, and, thirdly, “a greater slowness of the system”.
Having identified the causes, it is now time to address them, he said: “One of the things we have already decided, together with ANA — which has done a remarkable job with us to help us solve this –, is to redesign the entire departure and arrival area. We are going to increase the number of boxes and e-gates at departures by 30%, we are going to increase the boxes at arrivals by 30%, and we are going to increase the e-gates by 70%”.
The challenge, he admits, is to have the situation resolved by June, “before the summer”, the high season for tourism.
The tourism sector, namely the Portuguese Tourism Confederation (CTP) and APAVT, have been calling for urgent solutions to this constraint, which is damaging Portugal’s reputation as a destination. “It is a very serious problem which is beyond our control”, said José Luís Arnaut, chairman of the board of ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, earlier today.
