French airports are worried about waiting times due to reinforced controls



Due to the reinforced controls linked to Covid-19 at the start of the summer season, the waiting time at the airports has lengthened, worried the managers of French airports on Thursday.

“If nothing is done, and in the current state of affairs, waiting times could reach 2h30 or more, at peaks of activity, at certain French airports” this summer, said the President of the Union. of French airports (UAF), Thomas Juin, quoted in a press release.

The European health certificate to streamline

“French airports, like all air transport players, are doing everything they can to ensure that activity resumes under the best possible conditions (…) They are nevertheless alarmed by the lengthening of waiting times travelers, ”said the UAF. Airline professionals have been warning for weeks against congestion at airports this summer due to the resumption of traffic combined with the systematic verification of identity documents and multiple certificates (vaccination, tests, compelling reasons, etc.).

Coming into force on Thursday, the European health certificate is supposed to streamline passenger journeys, but the UAF believes that other measures could guarantee “a treatment of flights within a reasonable time”. In particular, in the area of ​​immigration controls, it recommends “the return to targeted controls of Schengen flights at all French airports”, “the reopening of the automated border control airlocks (Parafe airlock)” and “the strengthening of the number of border guards ”.

More time at airports

And concerning the health aspect, the organization proposes “the strengthening of information for travelers on the health requirements required by the countries of destination”, “the reduction of health checks on arrivals, with the exception of passengers coming from red countries, as soon as passengers have already been checked on departure “and” the simplification and harmonization of checks as well as the digitization of the required documents “.

At the end of May, the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which defends the interests of airlines, claimed that the time spent by travelers in airports had doubled between 2019 and 2021, going from 1h30 to 3h00 on average, while passenger volumes were only about 30% of those before Covid-19. At Eurocontrol’s latest score on Tuesday, the number of air travelers in Europe reached 50% of 2019 volume on June 21, above the median scenario of this European air traffic monitoring body, which forecast 45% in June , then 52% in July and 57% in August.



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