Ryanair has identified Tenerife South and Lanzarote as the worst airports in Europe for passport control delays, with British holidaymakers reporting queues of up to two hours during the peak summer season. The budget airline says these two Canary Island airports are the most affected by delays linked to the European Union's new Entry/Exit System (EES).
Airports most affected by EES delays
The EU's EES became fully mandatory on April 10, replacing manual passport stamping with a digital registration process for non-EU nationals travelling to the Schengen Area for short stays. The system records travellers' facial images, fingerprints and passport details each time they enter or leave the Schengen zone, but its introduction has led to significant delays at several busy European airports.
According to Ryanair, Tenerife South and César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport are among those where passengers have repeatedly experienced slow processing times and excessive queues, both on arrival and departure. Earlier this year, the airline reported waiting times of up to two hours at several Spanish airports, including Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Málaga and Alicante, blaming a combination of staff shortages and problems with the new system.
Which? ranks Tenerife South number one
The British consumer organisation Which? has also identified Tenerife South as the airport most frequently mentioned by travellers reporting long passport control queues linked to the EES. It ranked Tenerife South number one in a list of 11 airports most commonly associated with lengthy waits at departure passport checks.
Ryanair is advising passengers flying to or from Tenerife and other affected airports to allow extra time for airport procedures and to be prepared for longer-than-usual waits at passport control.
The full list of airports heavily affected by border delays, according to Ryanair, includes Madrid, Alicante, Málaga in Spain; Lisbon in Portugal; Milan Bergamo, Milan Malpensa, Verona in Italy; Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt-Hahn in Germany; Paris Beauvais in France; and Kraków and Budapest in Central Europe.
