Three‑hour border queues reported
Some European airlines are reporting passenger lines of up to three hours at airports because of new border controls, with flights to the UK among those hit. (majorcadailybulletin.com)
European airports and airlines said the European Union’s new border system is already causing passport-control lines of two to three hours at peak times. (a4e.eu) Airports Council International Europe and Airlines for Europe said on April 10 that the first day of full operations brought delays, missed flights and long waits across the Schengen area. They cited one UK-bound flight that left with 51 passengers missing and another that had no passengers at the gate by closing time. (a4e.eu) The system is called the Entry/Exit System, or EES. It records the entries and exits of non-European Union nationals on short stays and replaces passport stamps with digital records, facial images and fingerprint checks. (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) The European Commission says EES became fully operational on April 10, 2026, after a phased rollout that began on October 12, 2025. The Commission says the system applies at the external borders of 29 countries using it, with Cyprus and Ireland outside the scheme. (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) (commission.europa.eu) The immediate bottleneck is registration. Industry groups said all third-country nationals had to be registered from March 31, and the option to fully suspend the system ended on April 10, leaving border posts with less room to ease queues. (a4e.eu) Airlines and airports had warned for weeks that the change could jam terminals before the summer rush. In a February 11 letter and statement, Airports Council International Europe, Airlines for Europe and the International Air Transport Association said waits were already reaching two hours and could hit four hours or more in July and August without more flexibility. (iata.org) The travel industry says the delays are being driven by three problems: understaffed border control, technology issues in automated checkpoints, and limited use by Schengen states of the Frontex pre-registration app. The European Commission, by contrast, said on April 10 that registering a traveller takes about 70 seconds when the system is working at full capacity. (iata.org) (a4e.eu) The disruption is uneven. The Local reported on April 11 that some Channel crossing points serving the United Kingdom, including Dover, Folkestone and St Pancras, still had not fully rolled out the technology because French approval was pending after technical problems. (thelocal.com) The Commission says EES is meant to tighten border management by replacing manual stamping with a shared digital log of entries, exits and refusals. Airports and airlines are now asking Brussels and national governments to let border authorities fully suspend the system when lines become excessive, as Easter and the summer season approach. (commission.europa.eu) (a4e.eu)
