Flying in Italy and Europe, no longer needs to show the identity card: here are the rules to travel

A provision of the National Authority for Civil Aviation, ENAC, established that the boarding of national flights and those for the countries of the Schengen area It is no longer necessary to show the identity card or another identity document to the gate In addition to the boarding card. It applies to all Italian airports and already happens in German airports.

The rule, anticipated by Corriere della Serais already in force after receiving the green light of the Ministry of the Interior in recent days with the request to provide for the verification of the concordance to the Gate for the sections considered sensitive for irregular emigration.

President ENAC Pierluigi di Palma He explained the new airport control procedures. The goal is to make the activities faster within Italian airports, without losing safely: less bureaucracy, more slender procedures.

What documents are needed to travel

The rule so far in force, based on the National Program for the safety of civil aviation, said that the “air carrier is responsible for verifying the gate, at the time of boarding, of the concordance between the name of the passenger shown on the boarding card with that resulting from an identity document, subject to visual feedback of the identity of the passenger”.

This is the point that changes. There is no longer this verification, but you still have to have an identity document with it when traveling. To change is only the control. At the boarding of national flights and those for the countries of the Schengen area it is no longer necessary to show the identity card or another identity document to the gate, the driving license is also fine for internal flights, in addition to the boarding card. The document can be requested by the employees inside the airports and is used for the return if this mode is not in force in the foreign airport. Those who check in at the airport must show it for the issue of the boarding card.

25 of the 27 Member States of the European Union are part of the Schengen area. For Ireland a document is needed. It also applies to countries participating in the European free trade association, that is Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

For other flights, the need remains to exhibit the document: identity card or passport according to the different destinations.

Safety at airports

According to what Pierluigi Di Palma explains, “the airports are protected places and the time has come to equate travel by plane to those by train”. Safety is guaranteed upstream, by the gates with Metal Detector. “The failure to apply the verification of the concordance does not compromise an adequate level of security as it is guaranteed by the application of the specific safety measures provided for the screening of the passenger, as prescribed by the current European Union legislation”. But can’t you travel with others’ ticket? «All the security filters, visible and not visible, which exist in the airports take over. And I can assure you that for those who violate the rules the sanctions are very severe ».