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Work is underway at the Region of Murcia International Airport to adapt the Terminal Building to the new European regulations around the Entry/Exit System (EES), which will ring in several changes at the airport’s passport control.

 

The Entry/Exit System is a massive project being undertaken by the EU to automatically monitor people crossing borders in and out of the European Union and the Schengen Area. The idea is that it will replace passport stamps for citizens of non-EU countries and control how long third-party nationals spend in the EU.

 

Installation of the EES system is a precursor to the EU being able to introduce its European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) visa waiver, which is currently set to become obligatory for all non-resident third-country nationals visiting the Schengen Zone from May 2025.

 

At Corvera airport, the passport control area is being altered to accommodate these new systems, including the installation of check-in kiosks with ABC eGates (Automated Border Control), a type of check-in gate that uses biometric information to identify travellers. Such electronic gates are already common in many airports worldwide, including those in London Heathrow Airport (pictured, below).

 

 

The position of the manual check-in security posts at Murcia Airport will have to be moved to make way for these new automatic gates.

 

As well as this, the passenger flow system is being restructured and new CCTV installed. Hallways, toilets and airport shops will all be affected by these modifications to the passport control points.

 

In this way, the terminal will be able to comply with the obligation to have a system for recording entry and exit data for all third-country nationals crossing the external borders of the member states of the European Union.

 

The company installing these new security gates is Madrid-based company Elecnor Servicios y Proyectos, who will complete this work in the coming weeks.

 

It won a tender to carry out these works for the sum of 550,000 euros, a project for which it had a five-month deadline starting on October 13, 2023, which meant that the deadline expired on March 14, 2024.

 

However, the management of the Region of Murcia International Airport modified the contract to extend this deadline, so that Elecnor now has until May 1 to complete the required work, though they will not be paid any extra.