GNR Cuts Lisbon Airport Waits to About One Hour as Biometric Checks Pause

Long lines at Lisbon’s main airport are easing at last, but the cure—a uniformed team of 24 GNR officers normally tasked with rural policing—has raised fresh questions about border management, Brussels oversight, and Portugal’s readiness for the EU’s next-generation Entry/Exit System (EES).

Key points travellers in Portugal need to know

• Extra boots on the floor: GNR teams began work on 6 January.

• Queues trimmed: peak waits slid from seven hours in December to roughly one hour.

• EES on pause: government has suspended biometric checks for 90 days.

• No end date: officials refuse to say when the military police will pack up.

• EU audit looming: Commission inspectors want “detailed justification.”

Why the sudden military presence?

Portugal’s Interior Ministry scrambled for a quick fix after the EES pilot, rolled out in October for non-Schengen passengers, triggered marathon queues and stinging headlines that rattled the tourism sector. Instead of hiring more border agents—an 11-month recruitment process—the government borrowed GNR personnel, best known for patrolling highways and small towns. Each shift deploys 10 officers plus a supervisor, all holding certified border-control training and topped up with rapid administrative courses from PSP, ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, and the civil aviation regulator ANAC.

What travellers will notice

Holidaymakers landing at Humberto Delgado Airport now funnel toward desks staffed by a mix of PSP inspectors, GNR soldiers, and a handful of e-gates. The military police focus on basic document checks, leaving biometric scans inactive while the EES moratorium runs. According to airline lobby RENA, the hybrid model has chopped average waits to 50-60 minutes at peak—hardly ideal, but a far cry from the near-overnight vigils reported before Christmas. Early-morning flights from the United States, Brazil, and Angola still create pinch points, yet January passenger forums show markedly fewer complaints.

Brussels wants answers

A December inspection by the European Commission flagged “serious deficiencies” at Lisbon’s border, including inadequate staffing, procedural shortcuts, and episodes of no exit control at all. Suspending EES without prior notice rubbed officials in Brussels the wrong way. They have demanded a written timeline, proof that Portugal is fixing e-gate reliability, and guarantees the country will meet the bloc’s October 2026 full-EES deadline. Lisbon insists the move is temporary, arguing that a three-month breathing space is essential for “operational stability.”

Inside the numbers

• December 2023 peak wait: 7 h (some accounts up to nine).• Post-reinforcement peak: ≈1 h as of 7 January.• Additional budget: €7.5 M earmarked to lift e-gate capacity by 30% through 2028.• Staff mix this winter: 24 GNR, 80 PSP holiday surge officers, plus regular SEF replacement personnel.• Biometric collection booths currently idle: 12.

Voices from the front line

The National Association of GNR Officers (ANOG) warns its members are being used as a “political plaster,” stressing that airport work is outside their core mission. Travel industry groups, by contrast, applaud anything that “keeps Portugal open for business.” One ground-handling manager says airlines lost “hundreds of thousands in missed connections” during December’s meltdown. Passengers interviewed this week described the new set-up as “visible but calm,” though they still question why Lisbon’s only major hub relies on temporary fixes every holiday season.

What comes next

Interior officials are mapping three overlapping tracks:

Permanent hiring drive for dedicated border staff—applications open next month.

Hardware upgrade, including resilient e-gates capable of processing biometric and chip-passport data in under 40 seconds.

Policy review with Brussels, aiming to restart EES gradually before Easter if queue targets stay below 90 minutes.

While nobody can say precisely when the 24 GNR officers will return to their regular patrols, government sources hint the deployment could stretch “well beyond spring” if recruitment stalls. For passengers planning trips through Lisbon, the message is simple: the worst of December’s gridlock is gone, but the airport’s transformation into a truly EES-ready gateway is still a work in progress.