In a statement assessing that contingency plan, SEF said that it had processed about 3,500,000 passengers and 9,500 flights since its entry into force on June 4, with the aim of “strengthening the control capacity at the Union’s external air border”.

According to SEF, during the period in question, “satisfactory passenger processing results were achieved, with the almost non-existence of notable constraints in border control at the entrance and exit of the country”, despite the “large number of flights and the volume of passengers”.

The contingency plan - based on the reinforcement of human resources allocated to airports and on new technological and operational solutions - "enabled the extension of electronic border control (E-gates) to third-country nationals with a strong expression in terms of tourist flow and that do not represent a migratory or security risk (United States of America and Canada), allowing the processing of approximately 106,000 passengers of these nationalities in the five national airports, in the last 60 days”.