In just the past two weeks, over 270 passengers missed their flights due to the queues, Ryanair says
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair is calling on Portugal’s new government to urgently tackle the ongoing staff shortages causing massive delays at border control in Faro, Lisbon, and Porto airports.
The airline warned on Monday (June 9) that these bottlenecks are resulting in unnecessary wait times of up to two and a half hours — seriously disrupting passengers, many travelling with young children.
“In just the past two weeks (May 26 to June 9), over 270 passengers missed their flights at these airports due to excessive delays caused by understaffed border controls, Ryanair said in a statement.
“This situation is completely unacceptable and the new government should take urgent measures to ensure that border control at Portuguese airport is duly equipped with resources, especially during the morning rush hour, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and more people unfairly missing their flights,” the airline added.
Neal McMahon, Director Of Operations at Ryanair, says the situation is “unsustainable” and will only worsen as air traffic increases with the arrival of the peak summer season.
Last week, Portugal’s Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, tried to assuage fears, predicting that the issues at border control should be “resolved within two weeks”.
Portugal’s PSP police force has also confirmed it will deploy 500 new officers to boost border control and airport security at Lisbon, Porto, Madeira and the Azores in July, while an early reinforcement was already carried out at Faro Airport where the queues have been particularly serious.
