Lisbon, June 12, 2026 (Lusa) - The Public Security Police (PSP) had carried out border checks on 31,527 passengers at Portugal's domestic airports by 11am on Friday, and had also made 28 detentions, the police force said.

In a statement, the PSP said that, as part of its airport border control duties, its National Foreigners and Borders Unit (UNEF) had also decided to apply 10 precautionary measures, in compliance with Schengen rules.

Interceptions occur when officers approach a passenger to check documents or verify the legality of their stay in the country.

During the same period, the maximum waiting time for passengers at passport control at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon was 65 minutes for arrivals and 14 minutes for departures, whilst at Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto it was 11 minutes for arrivals and 22 minutes for departures, and at Gago Coutinho Airport in Faro it was 70 and 20 minutes respectively, the statement said.

The new European border control system, known as the Entry/Exit System (EES), came into operation in October 2025 in a phased manner across the various Schengen countries, and since then, waiting times at air borders have worsened, particularly at Lisbon Airport.

Since the EES began operating at full capacity in Portugal on 10 April, the PSP has resorted to partially suspending the collection of biometric data in “exceptional circumstances”, when it considers the waiting time at a particular location to be excessive, the police force spokesperson, Sérgio Soares, told the Lusa news agency.

A week ago, the interior minister announced that Portuguese international airports would receive a reinforcement of 340 officers from 4 July.

“On 4 July, we will deploy a further 340 officers from the PSP who are currently undergoing specific training at the borders. 140 will be sent to Lisbon, 100 to Porto, and the rest to Faro, Funchal and Ponta Delgada,” said Luís Neves, adding that around 50 more officers from the same force had been deployed to Lisbon that week.

PAL/AYLS // AYLS

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