Airports and airlines urge EES reforms as border queues reach five hours

ACI EUROPE and Airlines for Europe (A4E) have called on the European Commission and Schengen Member States to reform the Entry/Exit System (EES), saying persistent border delays are causing missed flights, disrupted connections and terminal congestion.

Nearly six months after full implementation, the industry bodies say waiting times still routinely exceed two hours and reach five hours in extreme cases during peak traffic. They attribute the disruption to insufficient border staffing, unstable IT systems, limited use of self-service kiosks and automated gates, and shortcomings in the Travel to Europe pre-registration app.

Their six-point plan proposes removing duplicate checks, optimising biometric verification, preventing duplicate passenger profiles, upgrading the app and web portal, and expanding harmonised automated border control for third-country nationals. It also calls for a permanent mechanism allowing biometric registration to be temporarily suspended when queues become excessive.

While acknowledging the EES’s contribution to border security, the organisations argue that the delays reflect structural problems rather than initial implementation difficulties. They urge authorities to introduce the changes promptly in cooperation with airports and airlines.