The Government delegate in Cantabria, Eugenia Gómez de Diego, presented on Thursday at the Seve Ballestries-Santander airport the new Automatic Border Control System (ABC Gates), a system that will allow to speed up the transit of passengers on flights to or from outside the Schengen area.
Accompanied by the superior head of the National Police in Cantabria, Carmen Martínez, and the director of the airport, Miguel Ángel Salgado, Gómez de Diego highlighted that this technology will allow citizens of the European Union, Iceland, Switzerland and Norway who are older and carry a biometric passport or electronic ID to carry out border control automatically, without the need for intervention of the agents, in just 20 seconds.
“This system will make border control faster, more comfortable and more secure,” said the government delegate, who stressed that with this implementation, the Cantabrian airport is modernized and passenger control security is strengthened.
After the investment made by Aena, dependent on the Ministry of Transport, the airport already has ten automated doors (five in Departures and five in Arrivals) that verify the identity of the traveler through facial recognition and fingerprint. If everything is correct, the door opens and the passenger can continue their journey.
These ABC gates will also serve to comply with the future Entry Exit System (EES) border control system once the European Commission determines the date of its entry into force. In total, Aena will invest 407,204 euros in all the equipment necessary for the deployment of the ESS at the Seve Ballestries-Santander Airport.
The National Police agents, who until now had to perform this control manually, supervise the operation of the system from an assisted control station, from which they can react to possible alerts or attend to users who need it.
Security Strengthening
As explained by the government delegate, this new system not only facilitates the procedures for passengers and makes the process faster and more convenient - saving time - but also strengthens security, since the new control system crosses the traveler’s information with official databases.
In this way, the system checks if there is any additional requirement for the traveler or if there is any kind of requirement.
"The new Automatic Border Control System (ABC Gates) translates into a more agile border crossing, more comfortable for the traveler, safer and, in addition, encourages greater rationality and efficiency in the work of the National Police in charge of this crossing," Gómez de Diego summarized.
Over 177,000 passengers
In 2024, a total of 253,440 passengers have passed through international flights outside the Schengen area at the Seve Ballestries-Santander airport, of which approximately 70% are Community and will be able to benefit from this new automatic system, which means about 177,000 passengers per year.
Currently, the Cantabrian terminal has flights outside this space with London, Dublin, Manchester, Edinburgh and Marrakech, to which Birmingham will join from April.
Gómez de Diego has concluded that this initiative is the result of the commitment of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Interior to the modernization of Spanish airports and the advance towards a model of intelligent borders, respectively.
In the last eight years, the Seve Ballestries-Santander Airport has received investments worth 15.8 million euros for the improvement and modernization of its facilities.