OFFICIALS have called for the new EES system to be urgently reviewed with travellers being forced to wait in three-hour queues at passport control.
The new Entry/Exit system is set to be up and running by April 10, 2026 for non-EU citizens entering the Schengen area – but there has been a concerns due to huge delays at the border.
The new EES system started rolling out from October 12, 2025, in order to replace manual passport stamping with digital checks for non-EU travelers.
It was designed to eventually reduce airport wait times by automating border checks with biometrics.
But reports have recorded waiting times of up to three hours.
Now, the Airports Council International (ACI) in Brussels is calling for an urgent review of the entry-exit system (EES).
ACI has said that the capturing of biometric data from third-country nationals entering the Schengen area has resulted in border control processing times at airports increasing by up to 70 per cent.
It added that this has impacted the passenger experience especially in airports across France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
The ACI has said that multiple factors have resulted in delays which include regular EES outages.
It reported persistent EES configuration problems, “including the partial deployment or unavailability of self‑service kiosks used by travelers for registration and biometric data capture”.
There is continued unavailability of Automated Border Control (ABC) gates for EES processing at many airports, and the unavailability of an effective pre-registration app.
Another factor is an insufficient amount of border guards at airports.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE warned: “Significant discomfort is already being inflicted upon travelers, and airport operations impacted with the current threshold for registering third country nationals set at only 10 per cent.”
Currently, one in 10 travellers has to go through the digital registration.
But by January 9, 2026, the percentage is due to be raised to 35 per cent.
Mr Jankovec has warned that unless the issues are resolved this “will inevitably result in much more severe congestion and systemic disruption for airports and airlines. This will possibly involve serious safety hazards”.
He added: “We fully understand and support the importance of the EES and remain fully committed to its implementation.
“But the EES cannot be about mayhem for travelers and chaos at our airports. If the current operational issues cannot be addressed and the system stabilised by early January, we will need swift action from the European Commission and Schengen Member States to allow additional flexibility in its roll‑out.”
For more on EES checks, here’s everything you need to know about them from a travel expert.
Plus, here’s all the worst travel chaos predicted for the UK over the Christmas period.
