Menzies handling error forces repeat security checks at Lisbon airport Terminal 1

What happened

On Tuesday, 3 November, passengers arriving on flight AD8752 from Brazil were let off at Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport through a door meant for passengers travelling within the Schengen area. ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, which runs the airport, said the mistake came from the ground-handling service provided by Menzies during the disembarkation. Because the arrivals entered a zone reserved for Schengen passengers, they skipped the checks that apply to flights from countries outside the agreement. Observador, reporting what it had established, said the bus that carried the passengers from the aircraft to the terminal dropped them at the wrong door, letting them into an area they should not have reached.

Security recheck in the international area

Passengers from the Brazil flight came into contact with people already in the international area of Terminal 1, including people close to boarding. Under the rules, those people had to be removed from the area and screened again, and DN described this as a preventive security step. Estimates of how many people went through the recheck differ: PÚBLICO put the figure at about a dozen people, while Diário de Notícias reported dozens. Observador said the recheck caused considerable confusion in that area and disrupted boarding. DN also reported that several passengers posted on social media that Terminal 1 was being evacuated, which it said did not happen. According to DN, the contact was between arriving passengers and departing ones, and no threat had been identified or reported to the authorities.

Effect on flights and the operator's response

By around 12:00, ANA considered the procedure complete and the impact residual, although it acknowledged that passengers who had to repeat the checks could have faced slight delays on their international flights. PÚBLICO reported that the terminal was operating normally by that point. Menzies declined to comment when PÚBLICO contacted it. Lusa, which had also asked the company for an explanation, said it was still waiting for a response.

A similar incident in July

SAPO reported that a comparable incident happened on 28 July, when the airport's border was temporarily closed after passengers from a flight from Brazil disembarked in the wrong area and mixed with other passengers. The timeline below sets out the dates as the sources report them.