The collection of biometric data at departure points in Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports was suspended over this weekend to prevent passengers from missing their flights due to long queues, according to the Public Security Police (PSP).
“Given the lengthy waiting times at Faro, Porto and Lisbon airports, namely Gago Coutinho Airport, Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport and Humberto Delgado Airport, biometric procedures at departures were suspended from the start of operations early this morning,” PSP spokesperson Sérgio Soares told journalists on Saturday.
According to the official, the suspension applies only to departing passengers, with biometric data collection continuing on arrivals as part of the European Union’s new border control system for non-EU citizens, which entered full operation across the bloc on Friday last week.
The aim, the superintendent explained, “is to ensure waiting times do not exceed what we consider acceptable, namely to prevent passengers from missing their flights”.
The PSP spokesperson stressed that departure controls are continuing “with the usual level of security, but without biometric collection”, due to the high number of travellers leaving the Schengen area through Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports and in order to avoid “extremely long queues”.
The European Entry/Exit System (EES) is an automated EU system that replaces passport stamping with the digital registration of biometric data, including facial images and fingerprints, for non-EU nationals. The system has been introduced in phases across the European Union since October 2025, and has been fully operational since Friday.
The new system came into operation on 12th October in Portugal and other Schengen countries. Since then, waiting times at air border controls have worsened, particularly at Lisbon Airport, where passengers have at times faced waits of several hours.
The introduction of the second phase of the EES at Portuguese airports on 10th December, involving the collection of biometric data, created further disruption at Lisbon Airport.
At the end of December, the Government announced contingency measures at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon aimed at reducing waiting times in the arrivals area, including a three-month suspension of the EES, which has since resumed operations. However, the suspension of this past weekend leaves travellers wondering whether the country’s airports have done enough to put the necessary infrastructure in place to prevent this drastic queueing.
Source: PSP
