British travelers to Portugal can now use electronic e-gates at the border to help make entry into the country quicker and smoother.
Lisbon, Faro, Porto and Funchal (Madeira Island) airports have all opened their RapidforAll e-gate facilities to British passengers, meaning these passengers do not need to queue in conventional passport control lanes. However, they will still be required to go through a passport stamping process.
Vinci Airports operates Gatwick Airport and all international airports in Portugal. According to the operator, approximately 260 flights a week have been scheduled to go to and from Portugal from April to October 2022. Most flights will arrive in Faro (3,550), Lisbon (1,900), Porto (1,500) and Funchal (822).
Stephanie Wear, vice president of airline relations at Gatwick Airport, said, “It is very welcome news that UK passengers to Portugal now have the option to use e-gates at the border. This move really differentiates Portugal from other countries and will hopefully boost visitor numbers as people take advantage of the e-gate technology, which makes it easier, more convenient and quicker for Britons to enter the country.”
Chloé Lapeyre, chief commercial officer of Portugal’s airport authority, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, said, “We are positive about the implementation of this new system RapidforAll by the Portuguese immigration authority in our main international airports and we facilitated the logistics to speed up their installation. We hope that it will contribute positively to welcoming the traffic recovery, namely for British passengers that amounted to 2.5 million and represent a relevant segment of tourism in Portugal.”