Are travelers ready to waste 2h30 at the airport to fly to their resort?
This is the question that French airport managers are asking themselves as the summer holidays approach.
The latter sounded the alarm on Thursday, worried about seeing the waiting time in their facilities lengthen because of the reinforced controls linked to Covid-19.
During the summer, "if nothing is done, and in the current state of affairs, waiting times could reach 2h30 or more, at peaks of activity, at certain French airports", indicates the president. of the French Airports Union (UAF), Thomas Juin, quoted in a press release.
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“French airports, like all air transport players, are doing everything they can to ensure that activity resumes under the best possible conditions (…).
They are nevertheless alarmed by the lengthening of waiting times for travelers, ”said the UAF.
Better with the European health certificate?
Aviation industry professionals have been warning for weeks against congestion at airports this summer.
Since deconfinement, the resumption of traffic is coupled with a systematic verification of identity documents and multiple certificates (vaccination, tests, compelling reasons, etc.).
Coming into force on Thursday, the European health certificate is supposed to streamline passenger journeys, but the UAF believes that other measures could guarantee "a treatment of flights within a reasonable time".
Read also Covid-19: how to get your European health pass to travel this summer
In particular, in the area of immigration controls, it recommends "the return to targeted controls of Schengen flights at all French airports", "the reopening of the automated border control airlocks (Parafe airlock)" and "the strengthening of the number of border guards ”.
More waiting time for 70% fewer passengers
In terms of health, the UAF proposes "the strengthening of information for travelers on the health requirements required by the countries of destination", "the reduction of health checks on arrivals, with the exception of passengers from red countries. , as long as the passengers have already been screened on departure ”.
It also recommends "the simplification and harmonization of controls as well as the digitization of required documents".
At the end of May, the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which defends the interests of airlines, claimed that the time spent by travelers at airports had doubled between 2019 and 2021, from 1h30 to 3h00 on average.
Yet passenger volumes were only about 30% of those before Covid-19.
At Eurocontrol's latest score on Tuesday, the number of air travelers in Europe reached 50% of 2019 volume on June 21, above the median scenario of this European air traffic monitoring body, which forecast 45% in June , then 52% in July and 57% in August.
