Passengers wait in line before entering a security checkpoint for domestic flights at the Congonhas Airport, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 18, 2016. Brazil's heightened security norms have been causing massive queues at the country's main airports. (Xinhua/Rahel Patrasso)
BRASILIA, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's new security norms which began on Monday have been causing massive queues at the country's main airports.
On Monday morning, the airports of Congonhas in Sao Paulo, of Santos Dumont in Rio de Janeiro and Juscelino Kubitschek in Brasilia began submitting passengers on domestic flights to new security measures, normally reserved for international flights.
Under the new stricter rules which were introduced before the upcoming Rio Olympics, passengers must now go through X-ray scans or physical searches, take laptops out of hand luggage and have their carry-on bags checked by security personnel.
Passengers complained that not enough personnel had been deployed to cope with the extra workload, causing particularly large queues.
A statement by Brazil's airport infrastructure agency, Infraero, said there had been delays for domestic flights to the cities of Campo Grande, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Joao Pessoa, Juazeiro do Norte, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Congonhas and Uberlandia.
The country's civil aviation agency, ANAC, noted last week that "airport operators would adopt the necessary measures to help with the processing of passengers."
It also recommended that passengers on domestic flights arrive at airports at least two hours ahead of departure time while airlines will now begin check-ins earlier.
More than 500,000 foreign tourists are expected to visit Rio for the Olympic Games which will begin on Aug. 5, according to Brazilian authorities.
