Chaotically long waiting times at Copenhagen Airport security were reported on Thursday, from early afternoon into the evening. The airport says the new measures were already slowing things down on Wednesday.
Now, passengers over the weekend are being warned to show up in good time and to expect longer waits.
The reason behind this chaos is increased security measures, though the exact ‘what’ and ‘why’ behind them remain unknown.
Long waits, missed flights
Reports started coming through of excessive wait times in the security queue.
Berlingske spoke with a group of passengers who said they ended up waiting more than an hour and a half for security.
A case from earlier in the day reported by TV 2 saw passengers miss their flight despite showing up at the airport two hours before departure.
On Thursday evening, the airline Norwegian reported to DR that around 200 of their passengers had missed their flights due to the wait times.
SAS also reported to TV 2 that 250 of their passengers missed flights due to the delays in the security check.
Increased security
The reason behind the delays appears to be increased security measures, as reported by the airport to various media outlets.
Instructions for this increased security came from the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority, which has confirmed this publicly.
In a statement to TV 2, it explained, “The Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority continuously supervises whether the airport complies with the security requirements across a wide range of different areas.
“In connection with the supervision, the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority has identified conditions which mean that the airport must temporarily implement certain additional measures in the security screening.”
It is unknown what these conditions refer to, or what the additional measures entail.
Come early over the weekend
Copenhagen Airport is now asking passengers over the weekend to arrive early due to these increased security checks.
On its website, it writes, “There may be longer waiting times at security during the busiest periods.
“We recommend that travellers arrive two hours before departure for travel within the Schengen area. Travellers going outside the Schengen area should arrive three hours before departure.”
