Passengers faced a desperate scramble to reach their gates at Preveza Aktion Airport (PVK) in Greece last month, with queues for bag drop, security and passport control stretching for hours and causing widespread panic.
An Express reporter travelling through the airport on September 6 described scenes of "sheer chaos", with passengers packed shoulder-to-shoulder and monstrous queues winding across the terminal. The reporter, who had previously travelled through the airport with ease over the past two years, said she did not sit down once during her entire two and a half hours at PVK.
Three queues before boarding
The ordeal began immediately upon entering the terminal, with a 30-minute queue just to drop off bags. After clearing bag drop, passengers were funnelled into a second queue for security, where they stood for at least 45 minutes while an entire terminal full of holidaymakers was processed through just two human scanners and four bag scanners.
Once through security, passengers faced a third queue for passport control, where only three desks were active. A café beside the queue remained virtually abandoned, as holidaymakers were so gripped by anxiety over missing their flights that no one dared step out of line to buy food or drinks. The only transactions occurred when an occasional passenger frantically hopped out of line to grab bottled water before darting back to their group.
Flights on final call
As the departure board ticked away, panic spread through the crowd. Airport staff set up two lanes to fast-track passengers whose flights were about to leave without them. While the reporter stood trapped in line, a TUI flight departing before hers was put on final call, with announcements naming missing passengers. Ahead in the queue, desperate people waved their passports above their heads and shouted to get through.
The same happened on the reporter's easyJet flight bound for Gatwick Airport. By the time she and her family finally squeezed through passport control, their flight was on final call. They ran straight to the gate and boarded immediately.
Airport operator responds
An airport staff member admitted on the ground that this nightmare is a regular occurrence. "This is a common issue on Sundays because it is a major changeover day for UK holidays," she told the reporter, stressing that the rest of the week is much calmer. She confessed she couldn't wait for her shift to end in less than an hour's time.
By the reporter's estimate, around six UK-bound flights were scheduled at the exact same time, forcing roughly 1,000 passengers into a bottleneck. Her flight was the last to depart in that wave, leaving the airport completely empty behind once it took off.
When asked why so many flights are scheduled at once at an airport without the infrastructure to handle them, airport operator Fraport Greece defended its operations and pointed to airline scheduling and European border rules. A spokesperson told the Express that peak summer Sundays coincide with the weekly changeover for UK charter and low-cost flights, a pattern common across Mediterranean leisure airports and "set by airline scheduling rather than by the airport operator".
While industry benchmarks for bag-drop, security and passport control usually sit between 20 and 40 minutes each, Fraport acknowledged the waits exceeded these targets due to multiple high-capacity flights departing within the same short window. "We recognise the waits you experienced exceeded this range and are reviewing resourcing and flow on peak Sundays accordingly," the operator admitted.
Fraport insisted that several factors behind the congestion sit outside its direct control, including manual non-EU passport checks required by national and European border authorities. Addressing why departures are packed so tightly together, the operator revealed it lacks the legal authority to force airlines to spread out their schedules.
"It must be noted that overall airline demand for Preveza Airport does not yet allow PVK to become a fully slot-coordinated airport," Fraport explained. "This practically means airlines remain able to choose operating at their convenience."
When asked whether passengers stranded by airport queues would be entitled to compensation from Fraport, the operator shifted responsibility back to the carriers, stating that claims are strictly a matter between passengers and their airline under EU261 regulations.
Looking ahead to future border controls, such as the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES), which Greece suspended for British tourists this summer amid overcrowding fears, Fraport added that it is actively preparing PVK's infrastructure, IT systems and staff training alongside Greek border police to "minimise disruption once the system is activated".
