Hundreds of passengers, mostly British, experienced a difficult arrival at Faro airport on Tuesday night (June 25), having to wait two hours in passport control queues which led many to miss their shuttles or arrive too late to pick up their rental cars.
According to regional news website Sulinformação, the situation was caused by thick fog which delayed the landing of four flights arriving from the UK.
The flights landed at the same time, with 700 passengers suddenly flooding the airport’s passport control booths.
Long queues formed and some travellers reported waiting two hours before their passport was checked, as only two passport control officers were working at the time and the electronic booth was not functioning.
Due to the delays, many people had to use taxis to reach their destination as airport shuttles left without them and rent-a-car companies had already closed by the time they arrived.
Portugal’s border control authority (SEF) told Sulinformação that the 700 passengers had their passports checked in less than an hour, between 11.30pm and 12.21am.
A source from SEF added that 15 inspectors have arrived to reinforce the Algarve’s border control staff during the summer season.
Long passport control queues have been a recurring issue at Faro Airport over the years, although the cases are usually described as “exceptions” by airport bosses (click here).
