Longer queues at the Bucharest airport due to tighter passport control procedures

Romania’s busiest airport, the Henri Coanda International Airport near Bucharest, has become very crowded during peak hours. Thus, airlines have been advising their passengers to get to the airport three hours before boarding to make sure they don’t lose their flights. The Romanian Border Police has become stricter in checking the passengers’ identification documents, which has been causing longer queues, especially between 4 and 8 in the morning, when low cost airlines schedule most of their departures, according to local stirileprotv.ro. “As the terrorist threats in Europe have increased, the passport control procedures have been tightened and the time it takes to check the documents for one person has increased a lot compared to previous years,” said Valentin Iordache, a spokesman for the Bucharest Airports Company. He added that traffic on the airport also increased compared to previous years and by the end of this year some 10 million passengers are expected to transit Romania’s biggest airport. The airport’s management has increased the number of passport control booths both for departures and arrivals and also plan to distribute flights more evenly throughout the day and avoid large queues. Over 7 million passengers transit Romania’s airports in six months editor@romania-insider.com