Lisbon Airport Scrambles to Slash Four-Hour Queues Ahead of 2026 Travel

After a summer when weary passengers waited four hours to clear immigration and piles of luggage sat abandoned outside Terminal 1, Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport turned into the national conversation nobody could ignore. Ministers now argue that the spectacle of queue-snaking corridors, cancelled flights and frayed tempers was a one-off. Their pitch to the public is simple: the same scene will not greet travellers during the next peak season, and a multi-layered repair job—from emergency police reinforcements to the first concrete pour for a future hub in Alcochete—is already under way.

From reputational headache to economic risk

Tourism drives roughly 16 % of Portugal’s GDP, so the government is acutely aware that an airport meltdown hurts more than holiday selfies. The wave of complaints that dominated radio call-in shows last July coincided with negotiations for major conferences in 2026, including BIO Europe Spring and a packed music-festival calendar. Hoteliers in Algarve and Porto still mutter about lost bookings they blame on the chaos, while national carrier TAP reports that onward connections were affected for nearly one-third of its Lisbon departures. Airport operator ANA, owned by France’s Vinci, admits the hub has “operated at full stretch for years” but points to delayed EU border-control software and summer strikes by ground-handling crews as triggers that pushed the system over the edge.

How the summer unraveled

Multiple seams tore at once. The EU’s new Entry/Exit System went live in May without adequate stress-testing, forcing many non-Schengen travellers back to manual booths. Half-functional eGates, understaffed PSP checkpoints, sporadic walkouts at Menzies Aviation and cargo bottlenecks created a domino effect that stranded aircraft on aprons and nudged Lisbon to the bottom of Europe’s punctuality rankings. Data from the first half of 2025 show that only 59 % of flights left on time, a steeper decline than 2024. Cargo forwarders diverted freight to Madrid, citing “terminal paralysis,” while the police union staged a contentious plenary outside Arrivals in early November, warning that officers were “tech support in uniform” rather than security professionals.

The emergency toolkit now in play

Facing what it calls a “reputational emergency,” the cabinet set up a permanent crisis cell in October. The task force stitches together the Infrastructure Ministry, Internal Security System, ANA, civil aviation watchdog ANAC and PSP commanders, meeting twice daily to monitor passenger flows. More than 140 additional officers have been redeployed to passport desks and a temporary lounge converted into extra eGate space. Simultaneously, construction crews work nights to finish the €233 M expansion of Terminal 1’s new Pier Sul, whose glass façade already shows photovoltaic cladding designed to earn LEED Gold environmental certification. When completed, the pier will add 10 boarding bridges and 12 remote stands, lifting declared hourly capacity to 45 movements—a figure aviation analysts describe as the operational ceiling before the long-promised second airport opens.

Is Alcochete the final answer?

The blueprint for the Aeroporto Luís de Camões on the Alcochete firing range was formally dusted off this autumn, replacing the Montijo plan that collapsed in 2021. Vinci and the state estimate a price tag of €8.5 B–€9 B, with financing expected from EU funds, private debt and a 30-year extension of ANA’s concession. Officials talk of ground-breaking in 2030 and commercial flights by late 2036, yet industry voices are sceptical. They note that previous timetables have slipped repeatedly and warn that any further drift will keep Humberto Delgado saturated well into the 2030s. The Portuguese Tourism Confederation fears that sustained overcrowding could shave €600 M a year off visitor revenue if airlines cap growth. The Infrastructure Minister, Miguel Pinto Luz, counters that interim works—new taxiways, re-profiled bus-gate zones, and a realigned baggage hall—offer “breathing room” until Alcochete rises from the marshland.

What travellers can expect next spring

Government projections promise visible relief before Easter 2026. Passport control is scheduled to double its automation lanes, the PSP is recruiting 200 extra officers, and ANA pledges real-time queue updates on its mobile app. Airline slot coordinators are already trial-running the 45-movements-per-hour model to stress-test air-traffic sequencing. Nevertheless, travel agents advise Lisbon residents heading abroad next summer to keep the perennial buffer: arrive early, monitor strikes, and remember that Portugal’s most famous gateway is still a construction site in evolution. If the new protocols hold, the four-hour line may slip into memory. If they don’t, the debate over how quickly the nation can build an entirely new airport will only grow louder.