Aeroporto de barcelona El Prat
“A Organização Mundial do Turismo (OMT), com sede em Madrid,
já alertou para a necessidade de regulamentar uma atividade que, segundo as
suas próprias estatísticas, subiu de 25 milhões de viagens em 1950 para 536
milhões em 1995 e 1235 milhões no ano passado. O fenómeno da massificação
turística, que pode alimentar a turismofobia, começa a ser considerado
preocupante pelos sectores mais sensibilizados.”
OVOODOCORVO
Air travellers in Europe delayed by security checks and
strikes
New rules demand entry and exit checks on non-Schengen
passengers, with Barcelona’s El Prat airport particularly busy
Ben Quinn
Saturday 5 August 2017 12.14 BST Last modified on Saturday 5
August 2017 13.14 BST
Soaring temperatures, new security checks and the resumption
of industrial action at one of Europe’s busiest airports are challenging
passengers on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Travellers in many cities were taking heed of advice to
arrive early on Saturday in order to allow extra time to pass through security
following the introduction in March of European Union regulations in the wake
of the Paris and Brussels terror attacks.
The new rules demand both entry and exit checks on
passengers from countries – including Britain – outside the 26-nation
border-free Schengen zone.
Delays have been particularly bad at Barcelona’s El Prat
airport, where passengers missed flights on Friday as security workers checking
carry-on luggage began partial strikes at the beginning of one of Spain’s peak
summer holiday weekends.
There were no strikes on Saturday, but passengers were still
reporting long waits. Luke Hansell, who was travelling to Birmingham with his
mother, said they had been prompted by news reports to arrive four hours before
their morning flight.
He said: “The queue for security was around 90 minutes to
pass. It was functioning but seemed like there wasn’t many staff. There were far
more manning the security at Birmingham airport for example.”
His experience of passport control was better than expected
though, with little sign that the new checks were causing staff to take longer
when checking documentation.
Robert Emerson, another passenger, said the airport was a
mess, with many disgruntled passengers and few or no staff. He had barely
reached the departure gate before a 10.30am boarding time following his arrival
shortly after 8am, and the aircraft was then left sitting on the runway for an
hour due to overbooking, with no passengers willing to get off.
After the failure of mediation on Friday evening, the series
of hour-long strikes by staff who operate scanners, search passengers and
control the queues at the airport will resume on Sunday. Others are scheduled
for Monday, Friday and next Sunday.
A spokesperson for the travel trade organisation, Abta, said
its members on the ground had yet to report travellers being adversely impacted
by the new security checks, but it was still advising travellers to leave extra
time when departing from Schengen countries.
“People should also bear in mind that this is a particularly
busy weekend and we have record numbers of Britons who are out in Europe at the
moment,” she said. “People do need to factor in time. If they are concerned,
then they should speak to their airlines. Certain ones will open check-ins
three hours before but at some airports they will only open them two hours
beforehand, for example.”
In the UK, the Home Office announced that the process of
filling in a landing card before arriving in the country will be scrapped for
more than 16 million non-EU travellers.
The paper-based system was described as outdated by
officials and will be replaced with a digital system. It is hoped the new
process will help speed passengers through airports upon arrival while ensuring
that security and immigration checks continue to be performed.
Non-European travellers have been required to fill out a
landing card with basic information about themselves and their travel since
1971, a process which costs £3.6m a year.
This weekend also marks the start of three weeks of
disruption on Britain’s railway network. Major stations in London, as well as
services in Wales and in the north of England, are due to be affected by
engineering work.
An £800m revamp to increase the capacity of Britain’s
busiest station, Waterloo in London, is already under way and will result in
fewer trains running from this weekend until 28 August. Services in south Wales
and in England’s north-west and Midlands are also expected to feel the impact of
engineering works this month.
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