The new rule is one of a set of 21 new ‘user duties’ drawn up to ease traffic and passenger flows at the country’s airports.


National airport managers ANA – Airports of Portugal, which manages the airports of Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal (Madeira), Porto Santo (Madeira), and Ponta Delgada, Horta and Santa Maria in the Azores, said the “need to ensure rapid public access and outflow” is behind the newly-introduced policies.


“The areas dedicated to the picking up and dropping off of passengers have their own natureand use” ANA said in a statement sent to Lusa News Agency, arguing the designated area, which are usually immediately adjacent to passenger terminals, means it is “especially necessary to ensure rapid access and flow of the general public, which requires that these areas are free for common use” of people who want to access the airport.

The regulation, printed last week in the Government Gazette, elaborates that it became “necessary” to “implement a regime that discourages the overuse of these areas by encouraging the rapid movement and outlet of vehicles, given the nature of the ‘Kiss and Fly’ areas, in which parking is free for the first ten minutes”.


Thus, anyone who uses pick-up or drop-off zones more than three times in the space of 24 consecutive hours, and who can “prove they did so out of strict necessity and for exceptional reasons not related to some type of business activity”, may be eligible for reimbursements for paid parking fees.


The regulation sets out 21 new rules for passenger drop-off and collection area users; it includes not picking up or dropping people off beyond car parks and areas dedicated for the purpose, and not parking vehicles outside them either, at risk of hefty fines.


The list also forbids the practice of “any act that in any way prevents or hinders the use [of the so-called ‘kiss and fly’ zones] by other users”, or parking vehicles “outside of the spaces reserved for a single vehicle, or outside the marked lines”.


It has also become a duty of the user “to provide ID when asked to do so” by ANA employees, as well as not stopping vehicles in traffic lanes, on access ramps or in any other place that constitutes a common area, preventing or hindering the circulation or manoeuvre of other users.


Non-compliance with all 21 duties may be subject to a fine: “Infringement of any of the duties listed (…) constitutes a breach of this Regulation and gives rise to the payment of a monetary penalty of €1,500”, the document stipulates.


Fines can be exacerbated if the breach of duty is repeated in each period of one month: a second infraction would see the culprit pay twice the applicable penalty; a third, the additional value of €2,500, a fourth an extra €5,000, and five or more infractions sees fines topped up with €7,500.


ANA further states that dropping off and collecting people at its airports should be limited strictly to “the time necessary” for the purpose.
The regulation, which came into force last Wednesday, one day after its publication in the Government gazette, repeals the previous regime that ANA had implemented in May 2015.