European airlines and airports are sounding the alarm over the European Union’s new Schengen Entry/Exit System, warning that unresolved problems with the biometric border checks risk plunging the coming peak summer season into chaos. Trade groups representing the continent’s largest carriers and hubs say passengers are already enduring long queues, missed flights, and widespread confusion at border control, even though the system is only partially in use. Without immediate changes from Brussels and national governments, they caution that wait times could stretch to four hours or more at some airports just as holiday travel surges.
What the New Schengen Entry/Exit System Actually Does
The Entry/Exit System, or EES, is the EU’s flagship border modernisation project for the Schengen zone. It is designed to replace manual passport stamping for non EU nationals with a fully digital record that logs each entry and exit. On a traveller’s first arrival, border officials take fingerprints and a facial image, creating a biometric profile that is then checked on every subsequent visit. The data is stored to help authorities identify overstays and travellers who have been refused entry, and to improve information sharing between Schengen states.
In principle, this should speed up border checks over the long term by automating much of the process and providing a single, trusted database across Europe’s external frontiers. Instead of officers inspecting every passport by hand, automated gates and self service kiosks are meant to capture fingerprints and photos, verify identities, and cross check security watchlists. Over time, the EU hopes this will make flows at busy hubs more predictable and secure.
In practice, however, the system’s initial months have exposed how complex it is to layer new biometric technology onto already stretched border posts. Since its phased launch in October 2025, EES has been gradually rolled out at more airports, ports, and land crossings, with an implementation calendar that ramps up the share of travellers who must be registered before the system becomes fully mandatory in April 2026. That process is colliding with staffing shortages, technical outages, and the simple fact that millions of people are encountering the new procedures for the first time.
Airlines and Airports Warn of “Severe Disruption” by Summer
On 11 February 2026, three of the most influential aviation bodies in Europe issued their starkest warning yet. Airports Council International Europe, Airlines for Europe, and the International Air Transport Association sent a joint letter to the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, urging an immediate review of EES before summer traffic peaks. They reported “persistent excessive waiting times” of up to two hours at airport border control under the current limited deployment, in which only 35 percent of eligible third country arrivals must be registered.
The organisations cautioned that if authorities simply move ahead to full implementation without addressing the underlying problems, queues could easily reach four hours or more at major hubs during July and August. That would mean tens of thousands of passengers stuck in packed arrival halls, missed onward connections, crowd control challenges, and a sharp deterioration in the overall travel experience within Europe. Airlines and airports stressed that they support the security and border management goals of EES but cannot ignore the operational reality now unfolding at front line checkpoints.
The joint warning echoes concerns that have been building for months among travel industry leaders. Airport operators, airline executives, and travel associations in key markets such as the United Kingdom have all raised the same fear: if current patterns of delay are already visible at relatively modest traffic levels, the system is not yet robust enough to handle the intense peaks of high summer. For travellers, particularly those coming from visa exempt countries like the US and UK, that could turn routine holiday trips into ordeals at the border.
Where Delays Are Hitting Travellers Now
Evidence from the first months of EES deployment suggests that bottlenecks are not confined to one or two airports but are appearing across the Schengen area. A report from Airports Council International Europe found that at locations where the system is active, border control processing times have risen by up to 70 percent. Waiting times at certain hubs have stretched to three hours during peak periods, prompting comparisons with the early days of post pandemic travel recovery when airports struggled with staff shortages and long queues.
Airports in France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain have all reported significant disruption related to the new checks. Travellers describe snaking lines for the biometric kiosks, confusion over where to go, and repeated troubleshooting when machines fail to capture fingerprints or facial images correctly on the first attempt. In some cases, passengers have missed their flights because clearance through passport control took far longer than airlines or airport planners had anticipated when setting minimum connection times.
The pressure is not limited to air travel. Ports and land crossings that handle ferry and rail traffic are also adjusting to the new requirements. At certain terminals serving cross Channel and North Sea routes, long queues of vehicles have formed as each passenger is processed for the first time in the system. While not every Schengen frontier is yet fully equipped with EES technology, the partial deployment has already revealed that the new procedures can dramatically slow throughput where staffing and infrastructure are not adjusted accordingly.
Staffing Gaps and Technology Failures at the Heart of the Problem
Industry groups say that the most pressing reason for the mounting delays is the combination of chronic border guard understaffing and persistent technical issues. Even before EES, many border police units across Europe were grappling with tight personnel budgets and recruitment challenges. The new system has sharply increased the time needed to process each new arrival who requires biometric registration, yet in many locations the number of officers on duty has not risen in parallel.
At the same time, the technology underpinning EES has shown itself to be fragile in day to day service. Airports report regular outages and configuration problems that can take biometric kiosks or automated gates offline, forcing officers to revert to manual data entry or to concentrate passengers in fewer functional lanes. Where the hardware is installed but not fully calibrated, travellers may have to repeat fingerprint scans or facial captures multiple times, further slowing each transaction and eroding any benefit from automation.
Another weak point is the supporting digital infrastructure intended to smooth the process. A pre registration application developed to allow travellers to enter some data before arrival has seen very limited adoption by member states and patchy communication to passengers. In the absence of an efficient way to complete most steps in advance, the entire burden of enrolment falls on border facilities at the moment of arrival. For airports that already operate near capacity at peak hours, this leaves very little margin when something goes wrong.
European Commission Flexibility Versus Industry’s Call for Stronger Measures
Faced with repeated warnings from the aviation sector and early evidence of strain, the European Commission has tried to build flexibility into the rollout. Under current rules, Schengen states are only required to register a portion of eligible third country nationals during the transitional period, a threshold that has risen from 10 percent to 35 percent and is due to reach 100 percent by 10 April 2026. Border authorities are allowed, in theory, to reduce the number or extent of checks or temporarily stand down the system to avoid extreme queues and safety risks.
In late January, a Commission spokesperson confirmed that member states would retain the ability to partially suspend EES into the summer for up to 90 days, with a possible 60 day extension. The goal, officials say, is to give national authorities the “tools necessary” to manage local conditions and prevent summer travel chaos while the biometric infrastructure matures. In some cases, such as at Lisbon Airport, authorities have already opted to suspend EES operations for several months after waiting times reportedly ran as high as seven hours at border control.
Airlines and airports welcome the recognition that flexibility is needed but argue that these measures do not go far enough. In their latest joint appeal, industry bodies asked the Commission to explicitly confirm that Schengen countries may partially or fully suspend EES operations until at least October 2026 if required to keep traffic moving. From their perspective, what is lacking is not legal authority but clear, coordinated guidance and a willingness at national level to use those contingency powers proactively when congestion builds.
High Stakes for Summer 2026 Peak Travel
The timing of the EES ramp up has sharpened concerns. The system’s full operational date of 10 April 2026 falls just as European travel starts to accelerate toward the key summer months. By June, July, and August, airports across the continent typically experience their heaviest passenger volumes of the year, with holidaymakers from North America, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and beyond flocking to Mediterranean resorts and cultural capitals. It is precisely these non EU visitors who are subject to the new biometric checks.
Industry modelling suggests that if processing times remain 50 to 70 percent longer than pre EES norms, even a few extra minutes per passenger will scale into hours of cumulative delay once aircraft movements and transfer traffic are taken into account. Airlines fear this could cause knock on disruption across their networks, as aircraft and crews are held up at congested arrival airports, leading to late departures and missed connection windows elsewhere in Europe. For low cost and leisure carriers that run tight schedules, the impact could be especially severe.
For travellers, the prospect of four hour queues at the border is far more than an inconvenience. Family holidays and once in a lifetime trips can be badly affected by long waits after overnight flights, missed domestic connections, and lost hotel nights. Travel agents and tour operators also worry that widespread reports of biometric bottlenecks could deter some visitors from booking European trips altogether, particularly when alternative destinations with smoother entry procedures are available. At a time when the tourism sector is still consolidating its recovery, the perception of “mayhem” at airports is damaging in its own right.
How Travellers Can Prepare While Authorities Scramble
While the aviation industry presses European officials for structural fixes, travellers planning trips to the Schengen area this summer have limited but important steps they can take. The most practical adjustment is to build in more time at key choke points. That means arriving at departure airports earlier than usual, allowing generous connection windows when booking multi segment itineraries, and avoiding very tight transfers that depend on rapid clearance at passport control.
Passengers should also be prepared for the specific demands of biometric registration on a first visit under EES. Having passports ready, following local signage for third country nationals, and paying close attention to instructions from border officers can help minimise individual processing time. Where pre registration tools or guidance are offered by national authorities or carriers, it is wise to make use of them, even if uptake has so far been patchy. Travellers who have fingerprints that are difficult to capture, or who wear head coverings that may complicate facial imaging, may wish to anticipate a few extra minutes at the kiosk.
For those still deciding on travel dates, shifting trips slightly away from the absolute peaks of late July and early August might reduce exposure to the worst queues, particularly at the busiest tourist airports. However, because the EES rollout is Europe wide and the flexibility each state applies can change week by week, it is difficult to pinpoint specific airports that will be problem free. Travellers should monitor airline and airport advisories in the weeks before departure and remain alert to any changes in check in or boarding time recommendations.
What Must Happen Next to Avoid a Summer Meltdown
Behind the urgent warnings and technical details lies a broader test for Europe’s ability to modernise its borders without undermining the free flow of passengers that underpins Schengen travel. Aviation leaders are calling for a coordinated, multidimensional response in the weeks ahead. They want member states to rapidly reinforce border control staffing at major hubs, fix persistent software and hardware issues with biometric kiosks and gates, and accelerate the deployment of reliable pre registration tools that shift more of the enrollment process away from crowded arrival halls.
Equally important, airports and airlines insist on clear, shared contingency plans that define when and how EES can be scaled back temporarily in response to real time conditions. That includes transparent criteria for suspending checks, protocols for communicating changes to passengers, and mechanisms for collecting data that can inform longer term system improvements. Without this, they warn, individual border posts may continue to muddle through in isolation, leaving travellers at the mercy of inconsistent practices and last minute decisions.
The coming months will show whether the EU can adjust course fast enough. The Entry/Exit System promises greater security and more efficient border management in the long run, yet its turbulent introduction has exposed serious gaps between policy design and frontline implementation. For now, European airlines and airports are united in a rare, public message to policymakers: without immediate, concrete action, the summer 2026 travel season risks being defined not by seamless biometric innovation, but by hours long queues and frustrated travellers at the doors of Schengen.