The simultaneous arrival of seventeen non-EU flights collapses the Lanzarote Airport

"The airport is selling a capacity that it doesn't even come close to having, and all these passengers, as well as the companies, are paying their fees and rates, but in return they receive this terrible service," a witness denounces.

February 28 2025 (11:40 WET)
Updated in February 28 2025 (12:13 WET)
Collapse at Lanzarote Airport.

The landing, the entry control and the stamping of passports of passengers from flights outside the European Union once again involve the César Manrique Airport in Lanzarote in controversy. According to information that La Voz has been able to access, between 1:43 p.m. and 3:03 p.m. this past Thursday, February 27, a total of seventeen flights from countries that do not belong to the Schengen area arrived at the island's aerodrome, in just eighty minutes, and that were required to stamp their entry to the island. This collapse, which occurred when two dozen non-EU flights coincided, forced travelers to wait outside the main building "in areas not authorized" for this.

The flights arriving at Terminal 1 of the Airport this Thursday at noon, which concentrates national and international routes, all came from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Specifically, two flights arrived from Bristol, one from Birmingham, two from London, two from Glasgow, one from Dublin, another from Leeds, one from Cardiff, two from Nottingham, one from Manchester, others from Newcastle, Bournemouth, Liverpool and Cork. To which was added a journey from Madrid and another from Milan.

According to police sources at the Airport, throughout this past Thursday, the day with the highest air traffic on the island, 54 flights from the United Kingdom arrived in Lanzarote. They have also denied that it is a collapse of access control to the aerodrome, but rather "a bottleneck" to control entries. Meanwhile, another witness has indicated that this situation is repeated every Thursday and Sunday, when a good part of the frequencies with the United Kingdom and Ireland are scheduled.

Aena sources have assured that the incident occurred because there were "more flights than expected, since it was added that it was rush hour with some flights arriving late at that time." In addition, they have attributed this lack of control "to a specific incident, which was resolved in ten minutes" and have ruled out that it had anything to do with the questioned passport stamping.

For security reasons, "airlines are not allowed to have their passengers positioned" on the Airport platform, while they wait to board the plane or when they are disembarked, "but it is curious that today they can be allowed," a witness questioned in statements to La Voz. If travelers stop in these spaces during boarding or disembarkation, airlines can be sanctioned.

"The problem is that there is not enough National Police personnel to carry out passport controls, both for arrival and departure for flights to non-Schengen territories," he indicated. Thus, he continued highlighting that "there is not enough capacity on the part of the infrastructure or the National Police to allow an acceptable flow of passengers."

In the photographs sent to this newsroom, you can see how the area enabled for stamping passengers' passports is full and travelers must wait outside to pass border control. "The airport is selling a capacity that it doesn't even come close to having, and all these passengers, as well as the companies, are paying their fees and rates, but in return they receive this terrible service," the same source highlighted.

At the same time, he indicated that these passengers, who need to be controlled upon departure, will also receive an "insufficient" control due to the lack of agents. "At least 17 more agents are needed, one for each boarding gate for each flight, to be able to comply with the requirement of carrying out passport control and even with the agent at the gate it would be insufficient to get the flight out on time."

Queues to enter the Lanzarote Airport.
Queues to enter the Lanzarote Airport.

 

A complaint before the European Prosecutor's Office and another before a Court in Arrecife

A National Police officer denounced last 2023 that the Lanzarote Airport had been "three years without stamping the passports of national travelers from third countries, against European regulations" due to the lack of agents.

From the Provincial Police Station of the National Police of Las Palmas, in May 2022, "an expansion of the catalog of jobs of different templates" was requested, including those of Arrecife and its Lanzarote Air Border Post. The request was repeated without success in March and October 2023, but the General Directorate of the National Police, based in Madrid, did not respond to these requests. Currently, in a draft revealed by this medium, Interior considers calling a contest to cover 51 National Police positions on the island, although it has not yet been made effective.

In addition, he brought to the attention of the Investigating Court number 2 of Arrecife and the European Prosecutor's Office the alleged misuse of one million euros of European funds in the border control of the César Manrique Airport.

The agent reflected in his complaint that the external border of the Lanzarote Airport has "an important fissure or vulnerability" within the European borders. Thus, he has highlighted that "it is not controlled beyond how a border is controlled for Schengen travelers and not for what it is cataloged as, as an external border."

Queues at the Lanzarote Airport.
Queues to enter the Lanzarote Airport.

 

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