If you're flying in visitors this summer, read this first.

Good morning, Lisbon. It's Sunday, 26 April. Twenty-five degrees and partly sunny, the warmest day of the long weekend.

🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 21 (Good).

🗞️ TOP STORY

LISBON AIRPORT IS HEADING INTO ITS BUSIEST SUMMER YET. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

On 19 April, Humberto Delgado Airport registered 188 delayed flights and two cancellations in a single day. Porto's Francisco Sá Carneiro added 45 more delays and four cancellations. The disruption was attributed to a combination of air traffic control failures, weather, and operational pressure from Iberia, Ryanair and Vueling. Summer has not started yet.

The timing sits inside a larger story. On 10 April, the EU's Entry/Exit System, known as EES, reached full mandatory deployment across the Schengen Area. The system replaces the old passport stamp with a digital biometric registration, collecting fingerprints and a facial scan from every non-EU national entering or exiting. That means US citizens, UK nationals, Australians, Canadians, anyone who is not an EU or Schengen passport holder, going through biometric registration on arrival.

Lisbon has already had a difficult run with EES. The airport suspended the system entirely in December after queues hit seven hours. The Portuguese government deployed 24 officers from the GNR to support border control and began a phased programme of equipment upgrades. When EES reached full rollout in April, the system was back in place. Two-hour queues on 3 April at passport control were followed, on 13 April, by the PSP suspending biometric collection at departures across Lisbon, Porto and Faro to stop passengers missing flights. Biometrics at arrivals remained mandatory.

As of 10 April, total suspension of EES is no longer permitted. Member states can still partially suspend checks for up to 90 days, with a possible 60-day extension stretching the safety valve through to early September. Portugal has that option available. Whether it uses it systematically through peak summer is an open question. What is not open is the underlying constraint: Humberto Delgado was already operating at capacity before any of this, serves over 30 million passengers a year, and has infrastructure that was not built for the volume it now handles.

The new airport at Alcochete has its environmental impact study due in July 2026. Construction cannot begin before 2028 at the earliest. Commercial flights at the current airport will continue for at least another decade.

For residents receiving visitors this summer, the practical implications are specific. Non-EU arrivals should add at least 45 to 60 minutes to their expected processing time, with the potential for longer during peak arrival windows. The worst periods are early morning, when long-haul flights from the Americas, Asia and the Gulf arrive simultaneously. Connecting passengers should pad their layovers. One small piece of good news: once biometrics are registered on a first visit, subsequent arrivals within three years only require a quick face scan rather than full re-registration.

Bottom line: If you are flying home for the summer or expecting visitors, tell them what to expect. Two to three hours of buffer between landing and anything important is not excessive this season.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Benfica's result from last night. Benfica hosted Moreirense at the Estádio da Luz on Saturday evening. [UPDATE WITH RESULT BEFORE SCHEDULING.] Porto face Estrela da Amadora and Sporting play AVS this evening, so the full title picture becomes clearer by tonight.

Mourinho's future heads into the final weeks unresolved. On Friday, Mourinho confirmed that both he and Benfica have a 10-day window at the end of the season to exercise a termination clause in his contract. Earlier this month he said he wanted to stay regardless of transfer investment. On Friday the tone shifted: it depends on the club's wishes. Benfica president Rui Costa confirmed before the Champions League tie against Real Madrid that Mourinho would remain for 2026-27. The manager's own words since then have been less definitive. Real Madrid speculation continues in the Spanish press.

Fuel prices are shifting this week. Diesel is expected to fall by around 10 cents per litre from Monday, while petrol may rise slightly by around 1 cent. If the forecasts hold, diesel will average around €1.98 per litre and petrol around €1.90. Prices are set weekly by the Automóvel Club de Portugal based on raw material costs and can vary by station and location.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

FÁBRICA COFFEE ROASTERS (BAIXA)

Rua das Portas de Santo Antão sits between Rossio and Avenida da Liberdade and is mostly known for tourist seafood restaurants. Fábrica is the exception. Open since 2015 as Portugal's first specialty coffee roastery, it still roasts its own beans in-house, sourcing from Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia. The interior, reclaimed wood, metal fixtures, small patio out the back, has not chased trends because it has not needed to. The coffee is consistently excellent.

Espresso from €2, pour-overs from €3.50. Pastries, sandwiches and light bites. Open every day, 9am to 5pm.

→ Find out why everyone loves the coffee here ←

Insider tip: No WiFi is the point, not the downside. Go on a Sunday morning with nowhere to be, order a V60 and enjoy. It gets busy from 10am, so arriving early gets you the patio.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.