Incoming passengers at Brussels Airport are facing long queues at passport control due to staffing issues. It is unclear when the situation will be resolved.
Queues began to form at around 09:30 on Friday morning, with waiting times exceeding one hour at some points, according to Brussels Airport spokesperson, Ihsane Chioua Lekhli. Water has been distributed to passengers in the queues.
Some passengers report having spent almost five hours in line. "We landed at 8:15 and cleared passport control after 13:00 [...] I’ve been in hour-long queues at Brussels airport a number of times. That’s normal bad. This was something completely different," a passenger, James Bairey, wrote to The Brussels Times on Friday. "Spending five hours in a passport control line is something from the Twilight Zone."
While the long weekend in Belgium has increased the passenger traffic at the airport, the queues are also a consequence of ongoing staffing issues by the Federal Police, who are responsible for passport control, explained Lekhli.
At around 15:00 on Friday, the estimated waiting time was one hour. It is unclear when the issue will be resolved and whether it will impact those travelling at the weekend. "It's difficult to say. It also depends on the number of [passengers from] incoming flights," added Lekhli.
Only arriving passengers are currently facing long queues. Passport control for outgoing flights and connecting flights are not facing significant waiting times, according to Lekhli.
Picture of Brussels Airport staff distributing water to passengers on Friday 2 May sent by a reader of The Brussels Times.
Passengers are advised to plan their transport from the airport according to the expected long waiting times. Those with European passports are advised to use them on the eGates, as those tend to have shorter queues.
Although the structural staffing issue within the Federal Police is an ongoing problem, its impact on Brussels Airport varies.
"It really depends how busy the passenger traffic is, what the staffing of the Federal Police is like," Lekhli added. "It is currently the holiday period, so there are long waiting times, whereas on other days it's less."
According to a Federal Police spokesperson, during holiday periods "the Airport Police continuously adjust their deployment to passenger flows and reinforce control posts wherever possible, making maximum use of available resources."
The Brussels Times contacted the Federal Police for further comment on the causes of the staff shortage but did not receive a response at the time of publishing.
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This article was updated on Tuesday to include a comment from a passenger.
