WILLEMSTAD - An enormous understaffing led to enormous frustration on Friday afternoon among departing passengers, who in many cases queued for up to three hours to pass the immigration counters.
While there was already massive congestion due to many planes departing at the same time, the understaffing led to endless queues after the check-in counters.
Passengers who had just checked in joined in disbelief at the back of the queue, which at times took up two to three rows the length of the departure hall.
Several airlines, including KLM, Tui and Avianca, departed more than an hour late due to the huge queues. Some passengers, especially from KLM and Tui, only arrived at the gate after standing in line for 3 hours.
CAP
Staff of Curaçao Airport Partners (CAP) still tried to manage the enormous flow of passengers, but at a certain point they could no longer handle the influx. This led to considerable frustration among the passengers. Passengers on their way to Bonaire with Divi Divi and EZ Air, among others, queued for hours before finally arriving at the departure hall.
The situation on site, with hundreds of people standing close to each other, could also be described as less than optimal from the point of view of Covid prevention.