The PSP (Public Security Police) will reinforce Portuguese airports with 360 police officers in July, a measure aimed at reducing waiting times for passengers from outside the Schengen area, an official source from the Public Security Police revealed to Lusa today.
PSP spokesperson Sérgio Soares stated that these 360 police officers are part of the 560 new agents who will complete their training on May 28th, immediately followed by a four-week border guard course.
The 360 new police officers will begin service at airports at the beginning of July, a reinforcement that is part of the PSP’s contingency plan for the summer.
Another police source indicated to Lusa that, of the 360 new agents, 150 will be stationed at Lisbon airport, 90 in Porto, 70 in Faro, 30 in the Azores and 20 in Madeira.
The contingency plan also includes, starting on May 29th, increasing the number of manual border control booths to improve operational response and reduce waiting times.
The new European border control system came into operation in October 2025 in Portugal and the other countries of the Schengen Area, and since then waiting times at air borders have worsened, especially at Lisbon airport, with passengers sometimes having to wait several hours.
The same source further stated that the PSP, in an attempt to reduce technical failures, will complement the current connection to the system via 5G Wi-Fi with a fixed network.
The introduction on December 10, 2025, of the second phase of this system in Portuguese airports, called the Entry/Exit System (EES), which consists of collecting biometric data, caused even more constraints at Lisbon airport, leading the Government, at the end of last year, to announce contingency measures at this airport. At that time, the system was suspended for three months and has since resumed operation.
This weekend the situation worsened again, with the constraints now also affecting the airports of Porto and Faro.
On Monday, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of border control services due to long queues at airports and admitted he would suspend the collection of biometric data if the situation continues.
For its part, the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) refused to suspend the application of the new system at airports during the summer, although it admits that the collection of biometric data may be interrupted for limited periods.
The EES is an automated system of the European Union that replaces the passport stamp with the digital registration of biometric data (photo and fingerprints) for citizens not belonging to the European Union and has been implemented in the EU in phases since October 2025, being 100% operational since April 10.
In December 2025, the European Commission conducted a surprise inspection of Portugal’s air and sea borders and detected “serious deficiencies” in border control, particularly at Humberto Delgado Airport. The final report identified 14 critical shortcomings related to human resources, lack of equipment, and the systematic simplification of security procedures.
The assessment also identified security vulnerabilities affecting the entire European area of free movement.
Passenger control at airport borders is the responsibility of the PSP (Public Security Police), a competence it inherited in 2023 from the Foreigners and Borders Service, while maritime borders are controlled by the GNR (National Republican Guard).
The implementation of the system is ensured by the Internal Security System (SSI), in coordination with the PSP (Public Security Police), the GNR (National Republican Guard), ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal (Airports of Portugal), the port authorities and the National Civil Aviation Authority.