What should travellers at Lanzarote airport plan for now?
At César Manrique-Lanzarote airport, travellers wait at passport control, at the taxi rank and, new, at the coaches for private hire and tourist pick-ups. The report of 8 November gave no waiting times, dates or hours.
As far as could be checked, Aena, the Spanish airport operator, has published no recommended arrival time for Lanzarote. Departing passengers should allow more time for passport and security checks, and arriving passengers should expect to be patient at taxis and pick-up coaches.
Flights on Lanzarote have also run late since the night of 4 November, because air traffic controllers working for the firm Saerco are on indefinite strike. That is a separate problem from passport control, but it hits departures and arrivals in the same week.
Why are passport control, taxis and coaches backing up?
The airport set a record in 2025, when Aena counted 8,920,901 passengers, 2.4% more than the year before. In 2019 the figure was about 7.3 million, and the count covers arrivals and departures of tourists, residents and other travellers.
Of 3,455,201 visitors to Lanzarote in 2025, 1,759,291 came from Britain, about 51%, according to the Centro de Datos (data centre) of the Cabildo (island government). Since Brexit they have gone through passport control for arrivals from outside the Schengen area.
Space is tight outside the terminal too. San Bartolomé has 84 taxi licences, 12 of them added in 2025, and the report considers that too few for peak times at the airport and the rest of the municipality, but it gives no ratio of taxis to passengers.
Who is responsible for passport control?
Border checks on travellers from outside the EU are a matter for the state. The Interior Ministry and the Policía Nacional (national police) staff the booths, Aena runs the terminal, and the Cabildo can only ask for more officers.
Citizens of non-EU countries may stay for at most 90 days within any 180 days. The EU Entry/Exit System (EES) has applied in stages since 12 October 2025 and has been fully in operation since 10 April 2026.
The system replaces the passport stamp with a digital record. Officers scan the passport and take a photo, and anyone without a visa gives four fingerprints.
Pedro Vieira is the central government’s delegate on Lanzarote. He called the staffing sufficient.
He blamed the crowding on the terminal’s design, the post-Brexit checks and arrivals bunched together. According to the Spanish government, the Interior Ministry invested 83 million euros in the country’s border posts, but there are no figures for Lanzarote specifically.
How often have queues like this happened before?
As early as July 2024, British arrivals waited up to 120 minutes, and only about half received a stamp. Fewer than 30 officers were on the rota, while around 40 were estimated to be needed.
On 5 August 2024 the Cabildo, under president Oswaldo Betancort, asked the state for more police officers. Betancort called the waiting times “unacceptable”.
Seventeen flights from outside the EU landed at the same time in February 2025 and overwhelmed the airport. In August 2025 José Valle, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, warned that the EES could cause serious breakdowns.
On 25 February 2026, 89 Ryanair passengers on flight FR4756 to Bristol were left behind. The airline unloaded their luggage in almost an hour, and the flight landed 46 minutes late.
Witnesses blamed too few officers. No official statement exists.
On 4 May 2026 the passport system reportedly failed.
What does the air traffic controllers’ strike mean for flights?
The indefinite strike by air traffic controllers has run since 17 April 2026 and has no end date. The controllers work for Saerco, the private firm that runs the tower under contract, not for ENAIRE, the state air navigation provider.
The unions USCA and CCOO called the strike, which affects 104 staff at nine airports. They cite staff cuts, cancelled holidays, short-notice shift changes and fatigue.
They want the concession terms reviewed. USCA says it is not demanding higher pay.
Individual flights may be cancelled, because the Transport Ministry set minimum services of 76% of inter-island flights in October and 73% in November. For mainland and international routes of more than five hours the figures are 57% and 53% respectively.
The unions are challenging the minimum services in court, and USCA accuses Saerco of an abusive interpretation. Eurocontrol counts 2,225 minutes of delay from the controllers’ strike, just under 5% of the European network, but the source gives neither the period nor the number of flights.
What is Aena planning and what remains open?
Aena proposes 327.4 million euros for Lanzarote for 2027 to 2031, after 39 million euros in 2022 to 2026. Of this, 228.9 million euros count as regulated.
Around 144 million euros should fund the start of the project. It links both terminals and doubles the floor area.
Plans include larger security and passport checks, more boarding areas and a bigger baggage hall. The report demands that the modernisation also cover access roads and passenger-transport zones.
For comparison, Fuerteventura has room for eight million passengers after its expansion. In 2025 its airport counted around 6.9 million.
It is not confirmed whether the sum stayed unchanged in the approved version. Aena gave no start dates for building work.
Waiting times and officer numbers in November 2026 are also open, as are any statements from Aena or the Policía Nacional. The end of the strike and the ruling on minimum services remain open too.