Spain Starts EES Checks for 300,000 Gibraltar Airport Passengers as Brexit Treaty Takes Effect
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Jul 14
Spain Starts EES Checks for 300,000 Gibraltar Airport Passengers as Brexit Treaty Takes Effect
3 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Jul 14
Summary
Midnight on Wednesday brings Spanish-run EU entry/exit checks to Gibraltar airport, requiring fingerprint and face scans for Britons and other non-EU arrivals under the new UK-EU treaty.
The move makes Gibraltar a de facto part of Schengen while removing passport controls at its land border with Spain, a crucial safeguard for an economy reliant on 15,000 daily cross-border workers.
Fabian Picardo said Gibraltar’s roughly one-hour flight spacing should let staff clear 140 to 150 passengers at a time, though school-holiday family traffic could still trigger queues.
Gibraltar’s 38,000 residents are exempt from the EES, while Spanish police will work from a joint airport facility that Picardo said keeps their presence physically contained.
The system closes a post-Brexit gap left unresolved since 2020, after 3.5 years of talks ended in a June 2025 deal between the UK, Gibraltar, Spain and the EU.