The Entry/Exit System, the digital information system for checking EU documents, is causing disruption for travellers during the peak holiday season, months after its deployment.
Not only are the queues getting longer, prompting airports and airlines to call for the checks to be suspended, frustrated travellers are complaining that border officials are completely absent from the airport experience. The passenger’s expectation is that the EES system should smoothly registering non-EU visitors with their passport, fingerprint and face biometrics.
When the EES deadline was pushed back, it had a delaying effect on the schedule of the ETIAS, whilst entirely separate. Whilst totally separate systems, officials have not wanted two systems to be deployed at the same time whilst issues and glitches seem to persist with the EES.
The EES System was rolled out over 6 months at the pace of some member states who had given their “declaration of readiness”.
Across some of Europe’s largest airports, they were experiencing flight delays and not enough operational capacity and border guards.
In an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen, aviation bodies urged for flexibility with the system and “significant mobilisation of considerable financial and human resources across Europe’s airports and airlines”.
They collectively said: “Waiting times at border control have increased significantly, now reaching up to 5 hours during peak traffic periods. These delays are impacting millions of passengers entering the Schengen Area, including families travelling with young children, elderly passengers and persons with reduced mobility”.
In July and August alone, European airports are expected to cope with approximately 40 million more passengers than the previous two months.
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