Arriving passengers face five-hour queues at Brussels Airport

Some passengers arriving at Brussels Airport from outside the Schengen area waited up to five hours at border control last week, according to the airport. The delays chiefly affected travellers who needed to pass through staffed passport checks before entering Belgium.

The airport attributed the longest waits partly to technical problems with the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), which records the arrival and departure of eligible travellers from outside the EU. When the system slows or fails, checks can take longer.

Capacity has also been affected by changes to automated processing. Travellers from certain countries, including the United States, can no longer use the previous route from registration kiosks to automatic gates and must instead join queues for staffed controls. Brussels Airport’s current passenger guidance says its e-gates are available to eligible EU passport holders and Belgian eID holders.

Brussels Airport says work is continuing on longer-term solutions. The delays concern border control, not airport security screening; passengers arriving from within the Schengen area normally do not pass through this passport check.