Passengers face being used as “guinea pigs” for a “half-baked” passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress this summer, Ryanair has warned. The airline is calling on European governments to postpone the new digital EU border check system – the Entry-Exit System (EES) – until after the summer holiday period.
The EES, which became fully operational in April, requires travellers from outside the bloc to register biometric information when entering most European countries, with checks repeated on departure. While the system has worked smoothly in some places, there have been regular reports of long waits at passport control, especially at peak times. Some passengers say they have missed flights home because they were held up in queues.
“Ryanair warns of 'queue chaos' and urges EU to postpone new border checks until after summer.”
Aletta von Massenbach, the boss of Berlin Airport, told the BBC’s Today programme that at one terminal in Berlin, where Ryanair and Wizz Air operate, non-EU nationals were queuing for “an hour to two hours”. She warned the situation is “not bearable over the summer”. Von Massenbach said one problem was that EU countries use different systems: “There are so many sub-systems for each and every member state. We see that the complexity doesn’t really support smooth processing at the border.”
Ryanair’s chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, said: “Passengers and families should not be used as guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress at airports this summer.” The airline said airports including Tenerife South, Palma, Alicante, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Krakow and Paris Beauvais were experiencing major disruptions.
Last week, the head of Europe’s airports trade body said worries over the EES were keeping him and other industry bosses awake at night. The European Commission has said it is willing to offer more support.
In the UK, technology issues have prevented EES from being used at the Port of Dover, where French border checks take place. A new processing area with 84 kiosks to record fingerprints and photographs is not being used because the technology for the kiosks – the responsibility of the French authorities – cannot be activated. Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, told MPs on Thursday that “time is rapidly running out” to fix it. “We are rapidly heading towards the start of the critical summer period and are yet to receive the assurances we need to avoid what has the potential to be a very challenging six weeks,” he said.
The system is meant to modernise the EU’s border control, making it more secure and eventually making travel smoother. But with summer holidays about to begin, the warnings from Ryanair, Berlin Airport and the Port of Dover raise the question: can the system cope before the peak season hits?