Malta International Airport has installed seven contingency immigration booths and a supporting back-office facility at the Baggage Reclaim Hall to combat delays caused by the EU’s new entry-exit system (EES), a MIA spokesperson told WhosWho.mt.

Two additional immigration desks have also been installed by the company within each of the six flexi-gates at Departures.

“Given that the border control processing and biometric equipment remains the property of the Police, any updates on the installation of this equipment would need to come from them,” the spokesperson said.

The Airport had announced the temporary booths last month as a contingency measure to support passenger processing during the peak summer months.

It followed permanent infrastructural upgrades across Arrivals and Departures, in lieu of the EES rollout, which introduced a new Schengen arrivals corridor and expanded the non-Schengen Arrivals Hall to accommodate additional border control booths and increase passenger processing capacity.

KM Malta Airlines Executive Chairman David Curmi warned last month that the airport’s system will be unable to cope with the summer demand and said it won’t accept a situation where its operations are disrupted as a result of congestion at the immigration hall.

"As traffic levels increase to peak levels in Summer, the system will simply not cope, with the limited space at the airport not able to accommodate very long queues.”

Ryanair also warned that it could redirect capacity from Malta to other Mediterranean destinations if border check delays don’t improve.