EU must cut airport delays, say airlines

Air transport organisations are calling for action to cut delays caused by a new EU regulation on border control checks that is adding up to an hour to process passengers on a typical flight.

The International Air Transport Association and the European associations Airlines for Europe, Airlines Council International Europe, European Regional Airlines Association and Airlines International Representation in Europe have written to the European Council of Ministers to express its concerns over this issue. More resources are urgently needed to reduce delays.

Rafael Schvartzman, IATA regional vice president, Europe, said: “We support additional border checks if governments believe this improves the security of Europe’s citizens. But we warned this needed more resources to prevent delays, and governments have failed to heed those warnings. The number of delayed flights due to border control issues is up 97 per cent – this is totally unacceptable. The answer is for more border control officers to be deployed, and more automatic gates to be operational.”