The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) became fully operational on April 10, resulting in passenger waiting times of two to three hours.
At the beginning of the year, the EU announced measures to give Schengen Area countries more flexibility in implementing EES during the busy summer season.
However, ACI Europe and Airlines for Europe (A4E) are calling on the European Commission and EU Member States to introduce additional flexibility, as the first day of full operations was marked by passenger disruptions, delays and missed flights.
According to the groups, the mandatory registration of all third-country nationals resulted in:
- Passenger waiting times of two to three hours during peak travel periods. Delays occurred despite border authorities making use of partial suspension measures, which allow biometric data not to be captured.
- Significant disruption to flight operations, with passengers missing flights. For instance, a flight to the UK was missing 51 passengers at departure and another flight had zero passengers on board at gate closing time.
“While we will continue to closely monitor developments in the coming days, it is already evident that greater flexibility is needed. Border control authorities must be allowed to fully suspend the EES when waiting times become excessive. This is essential not only in the coming weeks, but throughout the peak summer travel season,” said Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE, and Ourania Georgoutsakou, MD of A4E.
