Construction work at Palma Airport has meant that not all passenger baggage security lanes have been operating.
The AENA airports authority says that 30 are currently available. The company that manages the security checks makes decisions as to how many are open based on passenger traffic forecasts that the airport management provides. "Therefore, they are opening the lines based on traffic."
Early on Sunday morning, when there were long queues for security and waiting times of fifteen minutes or more, 20 lines were operating.
AENA insists that the lanes are operating correctly and that congestion on Sunday was a one-off incident. "Thousands of passengers pass through the airport every day, and we have not had any incidents at the security checkpoint. What happened was a one-off incident that lasted for a few minutes but was quickly sorted out."
The average wait is ten minutes. "98% of passengers pass through in under ten minutes, which means we meet the indicators set by the airport regulation document every month."
Forty-four lanes had initially been planned for this summer. This was modified and there are due to be 38, which AENA considers to be the necessary number. Three more will be available during August, while the remaining five will have to wait until the end of the current tourism season.