The Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) indicated that the summer contingency plan for airports enters this Monday “within the maximum allocation” of reinforcement means and has guaranteed that monitoring will continue for possible “necessary adjustments” .
“The plan today enters the maximum allocation of the means for which it was designed, and the follow-up will continue throughout the summer, thanks to the dialogue between the Ministry of Internal Administration, the Foreigners Service and Borders (SEF), ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal and other competent entities throughout the process, so that the necessary adjustments can be made at any time”, indicates the ministry under the supervision of José Luís Carneiro, in a press release on the results of the first month of the IATA 2022 summer emergency plan.
According to the AMI, the emergency plan for Portuguese airports has been prepared to deal with the exponential increase in passenger arrivals during the summer, as well as the holding of major events.
The AMI indicates that the plan was designed to “reinforce the control capacity of the external borders of the European Union, ensure the security of the Schengen area and promote fluidity in the processing of passengers entering and leaving the country by the air borders”.
The MAI indicates that a permanent control and a weekly evaluation of the emergency plan have been carried out through follow-up meetings.
“Despite the large number of flights and the volume of passengers checked, there were no notable constraints, after the start of the implementation of the plan, except for specific situations in Lisbon and Faro”, assures the MAI, underlining that “it was possible to significantly increase the occupancy rate of the boxes in periods considered to be peak, thus allowing faster processing of passenger flows”.
The AMI also points out that “the maximum waiting times observed at airports have decreased significantly, particularly at Lisbon airport, where “it very rarely reached 60 minutes last week, being generally well inferior”.
The ministry adds that the plan is based on the substantial reinforcement of human resources allocated to airports, new technological and operational solutions.
According to the MAI, 55 SEF inspectors were reassigned to airports, of which 25 were assigned to Lisbon, 15 to Faro and 15 to Porto, and 176 PSP officers were also assigned to a border control course provided by the SEF, including 42 practical component in airports started today.
As part of technological solutions, MAI states that “constant updating and monitoring of available technological equipment is in progress” and “SEF Mobile and advanced passenger screening are used in random checks on certain flights or during great events”.
The MAI reports the extension, on June 15, of Rapid4all (Passenger Control Technological Gates – E-Gates) to the United States of America and Canada, allowing this solution to process more than 19,000 passengers of these nationalities at their arrival in Lisbon.
The MAI also guarantees that the first-generation E-gates (RAPID) technology doors are “in full operation and are already processing around a third of the passengers at the entrances to Lisbon airport” and awareness campaigns and routing of passengers were conducted. .reinforced, with an increase in ANA blue points (assistance personnel), better management of queues and improved signage.
The contingency plan for border crossings at Portuguese airports for the period from June to September 2022 includes a set of measures that were to be gradually implemented until today.
Among the measures are a reinforcement of 238 SEF and PSP employees during the summer months, 82% more than the current workforce at border posts, the increase of staff at airports to 529, and various technological solutions.
According to MAI, the plan is being implemented at a time when there is great pressure on airport systems in Europe and in different parts of the world, which usually results in flight cancellations, increased waiting times and other disruptions affecting airports, airlines and passengers. .
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