European airlines have warned that passengers face huge delays at several major airports popular with Maltese travellers due to understaffing and new EU immigration and security rules.

Airlines4Europe, which includes Ryanair, Easyjet and Lufthansa among its members, said airports such as Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Lisbon, Lyon, Paris-Orly, Milan and Brussels were facing immigration queues of up to four hours, while thousands of flights have been delayed.

The delays mostly affect flights departing or arriving from non-Schengen area countries. 

No significant delays have been reported on flights from or to Malta.

At some airports, flight delays have increased by 300 per cent

According to the airlines, passengers have become victims of the “disproportionate impact that the implementation of a new EU regulation is having on the flow of traffic at European airports.”

The regulation relates to the reinforcement of checks against relevant databases at external borders.

“Member States need to take all necessary measures now to prevent such disruptions and deploy appropriate staff and resources in sufficient numbers to carry out the requested checks,” said A4E managing director Thomas Reynaert.

“Especially during the peak season of the year, travellers face long lines and can’t get on their flights. Queuing for up to four hours has been the top record these days; airports are producing shameful pictures of devastated passengers in front of immigration booths in lines stretching hundreds of metres.

“At some airports, flight delays have increased by 300 per cent compared to last year — Member States must take the responsibility for this,” he added.

A4E said that while it fully supported EU efforts to reinforce controls at external borders so as to preserve Schengen’s free movement area, Member States’ inability to provide efficient resources was directly impacting airlines’ operations at European airports.