Lisbon, May 18, 2026 (Lusa) – The government refused on Monday to suspend the application of the new European border control system at Portuguese airports during the summer, although it acknowledged that biometric data collection could be halted for limited periods.
Budget airline Ryanair appealed to the Portuguese government on 8 May to suspend the application of the Entry/Exit System (EES) until September. The system controls passengers from outside the Schengen area, and the airline sought to avoid disruptions at national airports during the peak summer season.
The interior ministry informed Lusa on Monday that Portugal "maintains its commitment to ensure" the operation of the EES "in compliance with European Union law, with no suspension planned."
However, the ministry clarified that “the applicable European framework allows, in exceptional and strictly limited circumstances, for operational measures such as the suspension of biometric data collection (facial images and fingerprints), at certain border crossing points, where high volumes of traffic could lead to excessive waiting times.”
This operational management falls within the remit of the Public Security Police (PSP), and "during temporary suspensions, border controls comply with all established security protocols, with biometric data collection resuming as soon as the reference parameters are met," it said.
Border control recorded waiting times exceeding two hours at Porto airport and an hour and a half at Lisbon and Faro airports on Sunday morning. The PSP attributed the delays to technical and IT issues combined with a high influx of non-Schengen passengers.
Technical and IT difficulties also caused delays of over an hour at the Lisbon airport departures control area on Saturday.
The PSP previously suspended biometric collection at departures in Lisbon, Porto, and Faro airports on 11 and 12 April due to long waiting times for boarding passengers.
The EES replaced passport stamping with the digital registration of photographs and fingerprints for non-EU passengers. The system entered into service progressively in Portugal and the rest of the Schengen area on 12 October 2025, leading to increased waiting times, particularly at Lisbon airport.
The government announced contingency measures at Lisbon airport in late December 2025 to reduce waiting times in the arrivals area, which included a three-month suspension of the EES before the system resumed operations.
IB/RYOL // AYLS
Lusa
