Copenhagen passport control IT delays

Copenhagen Airport said passport-control IT problems on Saturday, April 26, caused delays of one to two hours before police resolved the issue onsite. (aviation24.be) The disruption affected travelers moving through passport control for flights to and from destinations outside the Schengen area. Copenhagen Airport told passengers to expect longer processing while the fault lasted. (aviation24.be) Airport operator CPH said the issue was handled by police at the airport, and normal operations were restored later the same day. The reported delay window was one to two hours. (aviation24.be) The timing mattered because Europe’s Entry/Exit System, a digital border database that replaces passport stamps for many non-European travelers, became fully operational across participating borders on April 10, 2026. (eeas.europa.eu) Under that system, border authorities record passport data, entry and exit details, and biometric information including fingerprints and a facial image. The European External Action Service says the system applies to non-European Union nationals making short stays in the Schengen area. (eeas.europa.eu) Copenhagen has already been seeing longer border waits tied to those new checks. Recent passenger accounts described queues of more than an hour after arrival from outside Schengen, with each traveler processed individually. (schengentracker.com 1) (schengentracker.com 2) Copenhagen Airport’s own passport-control page says travelers on non-Schengen routes must pass passport control on both departure and arrival, and advises passengers to allow extra time. (cphsecuritywait.dk) Saturday’s outage was separate from the new border rules, but it hit the same chokepoint: the passport hall. At Copenhagen, that turned a routine control point into a one-to-two-hour delay. (aviation24.be) (cphsecuritywait.dk)