Aviation bodies have stepped in to collectively call for action to tackle an almost doubling of flight delays caused by additional security checks at European airports.
The new regulation on border control checks by the European Union has caused chaos and significant delays to flights in Europe, according to Iata.
“The extra checks mean on average an extra 20 seconds processing time per passenger, meaning it can take an extra hour to process the passengers on a typical flight, the airline trade body said.
Iata has joined forces with the Airlines for Europe (A4E), Airlines Council International Europe, European Regional Airlines Association and Airlines International Representation in Europe to highlight their concerns.
They are calling for urgent extra resources to reduce delays which are estimated to affect around 319 million passengers a year – almost half of all passengers using EU airports.
Iata’s regional vice president for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman, said: “We support additional border checks if governments believe this improves the security of Europe’s citizens.
“But we warned this needed more resources to prevent delays, and governments have failed to heed those warnings. The number of delayed flights due to border control issues is up 97% – this is totally unacceptable.
“The answer is for more border control officers to be deployed, and more automatic gates to be operational.”
On Friday, British Airways called on the UK’s Border Force to tackle “serious inefficiencies” that are causing long delays at airports.