The president of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, José Valle, has expressed his concern about the implementation of the next October 12 of the new European entry and exit control system EES (Entry/Exit System) that, according to warns, could cause "serious collapses" at the Lanzarote airport. The island aerodrome has already been criticized on several occasions for the slowness and long queues that are generated in passport control for non-EU citizens.
Valle warns that this new system, based on the biometric and digital registration of non-EU passengers, from countries not belonging to the Schengen area, “will aggravate the crowds that already occur in the passport controls of the César Manrique Lanzarote Airport”.
According to the Data Center of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, more than 50% of the tourists who visit the island are British, a non-EU market that in 2024 exceeded 1.6 million visitors. This implies that the airport manages more than 3.2 million passport stamps each year without having a separate international area. “Currently, arrival control is carried out in a very small space and long queues occur that can exceed two hundred people at specific times such as the arrival of three or four flights from the United Kingdom”.
The implementation of machines could speed up the reception system, however, “the space is still small to accommodate so many people who finally have to queue outside the building in an unauthorized space”, explains Valle.
The Chamber recalls that the European Commission already detected "deficiencies in the infrastructure" and requested "a physical separation between national and international passengers, something that is still pending execution".
The AENA Master Plan contemplates the creation of an international area and the expansion of space in check-in, boarding and passport controls, but, although these works are included in the Airport Regulation Document (DORA III), they do not yet have a completion date.
Valle insists that the planning and reinforcement of human and technological resources in border controls is "essential to guarantee a satisfactory experience and guarantee the tourist competitiveness" of Lanzarote, so he adds that “we must anticipate the problem before the situation of collapse arrives and forces us to act urgently”.
