Families could face “queue chaos” this summer because of a new digital EU border check system, Ryanair has warned, as the airline urged European governments to postpone the system until after the holiday period.
The warning from Ryanair’s chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, comes amid mounting disruption at airports across Europe, with the boss of Berlin Airport saying non-EU nationals are already queuing for up to two hours under the EU’s Entry-Exit System (EES). “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,” McMahon said.
“Ryanair warns families face 'queue chaos' from new EU border checks, urging governments to postpone the system.”
The EES, which requires travellers from outside the bloc to register biometric information when entering and leaving most European countries, has been fully operational since April. While it has worked smoothly in some places, there have been regular reports of long waits at passport control, particularly at peak times. Some passengers have missed flights home because of the queues.
Aletta von Massenbach, boss of Berlin Airport, told the BBC’s Today programme that at one terminal in Berlin – where Ryanair and Wizz Air operate – waiting times can run between an hour and two hours. She warned the situation is “not bearable over the summer”. Von Massenbach highlighted that the complexity of the system is part of the problem: “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.”
The European Commission says it is willing to offer more support, but Ryanair said airports including Tenerife South, Palma, Alicante, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Krakow and Paris Beauvais are 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.
In the UK, technology issues have prevented the 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 – the responsibility of the French authorities – cannot be activated. Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister told MPs on Thursday that “time is rapidly running out” to fix the problem. “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.
With the summer holiday season about to begin, the question remains whether European governments will heed Ryanair’s call to postpone the EES – or risk a summer of travel chaos.