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João Paulo II Airport Security Wait Times (PDL): What to Expect - HonestAirport

João Paulo II Airport (PDL)

PDL

João Paulo II Airport security wait times

What a normal day looks like at security here, and how to get through faster.

Flying from PDL?

Enter your flight for a door-to-door plan: when to leave, security, the lounge you can use and your gate. No account needed.

On a typical day

We don't have a typical wait for PDL yet. Enter your flight above and the plan budgets security for you.

Night moves are capped, and the AIP clock is UTC. From 01:00 to 07:00 UTC, commercial movements are limited to 30 a week and 6 a day, with listed weather and delay exceptions. Parenthetical AIP times are Azores standard, one hour behind summer local time.

How to get through faster at PDL

Pack for the EU liquids rule
No Ponta Delgada exemption was published.
There is one passenger terminal. Check-in, security, and boarding all happen there.
No Ponta Delgada liquids exemption or CT-scanner exception was published. The EU cabin rule remains containers of 100 ml or less in one clear bag of up to 1 litre unless the airport posts something else. A power-bank watt-hour limit and an official arrive-by time were not published.
Check-in, security, and boarding are in the single passenger terminal at Relva. The AIP lists hotels in the city, not an airport hotel, and a hospital in the city 2 km from the aerodrome. First aid is on the airport.
Two expansion descriptions are both public and they are not the same project line. On 11 November 2025 the Azores government reported Thierry Ligonnière presenting a plan to double the terminal, about 15,000 m² more, with check-in more than doubled, security tripled, and gates doubled. Works run 2025–2030 while the airport stays open. That note said the first phase was already done at about €20 million across Ponta Delgada and Horta, and that the next stage starts in 2027 and includes moving the VIP room.