Tenerife Airport Faces Passport Control Chaos Amid Technical Problems

Tenerife South-Reina Sofía Airport is once again facing major queues at passport control. Ongoing technical problems are causing these delays, making it hard for the airport to handle the large number of international visitors.

Local newspaper Diario de Avisos reported another day of long lines this Tuesday, February 10. So many travellers arrived that hundreds were forced to wait outside the terminal because the passport control area inside was completely full by around 1:30 PM.

These issues are not new; the airport's border control has been struggling with technical problems for a long time. Business groups and the local hotel association have pointed out that out of 36 new biometric machines, meant to speed up passport checks for the new EES system, only five were working by the end of last week. While we don't know the exact number of machines working this Tuesday, the chaos at Reina Sofía Airport clearly shows that the current setup can't cope with the number of international passengers.

Since November, the airport has faced various technical glitches, including gates failing to open and connection problems, affecting 85% of the passport control system. Ashotel, the hotel association, has again criticised what it calls 'combined inaction' from Aena, which manages airport infrastructure, and the Ministry of Interior, responsible for staff and technical equipment. The tourism sector believes these delays are 'inadequate treatment' for visitors, particularly British tourists, who often face waits of over 90 minutes to enter the island.

The Ministry of Interior has previously stated that there isn't a fundamental problem, blaming the queues on 'specific busy flight times' and 'temporary IT issues.' However, for the thousands of travellers stuck outside the terminal this Tuesday, the reality on the ground was far from the smooth experience expected at a major international airport.