Copenhagen Airport CEO apologizes for long passport queues

The CEO of Copenhagen Airport, Christian Poulsen, has issued an apology to travelers following summer delays where passport control queues reached up to five hours. The airport experienced its busiest summer on record, with approximately ten million passengers passing through the Amager terminals in a three-month period.

Management attributed the bottlenecks to a combination of record-breaking traffic and the implementation of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), which requires biometric registration for travelers from outside the Schengen Area. These delays are occurring while the airport undergoes a major expansion project to add 60,000 square meters to Terminal 3.

Major airlines SAS and Norwegian have threatened to move traffic away from the airport due to the congestion. Poulsen emphasized that the airport takes the impact on passenger experience seriously and noted that high global travel demand continues to drive traffic through Copenhagen.