Ryanair has identified seven European airports as the worst for border delays under the EU's new Entry/Exit System (EES), warning that these hubs are 'not ready' to handle the summer surge in passengers. Four of the seven are in Spain: Tenerife South, Alicante, Palma de Mallorca, and Malaga. The remaining three are Bergamo (Italy), Krakow (Poland), and Paris Beauvais (France).
EES System Causes Widespread Disruption
The EES, which replaced manual passport stamps with facial recognition and fingerprint scans for non-EU citizens, was activated on April 10. British passport holders are among those affected when entering the Schengen Area. Ryanair cited insufficient staff and kiosks as key factors behind the delays, predicting huge queues this summer.
Neal McMahon, Ryanair's chief operations officer, said: 'Governments across Europe are trying to roll out a half-finished IT system during the busiest travel period of the year and passengers are paying the price – being forced to endure hours-long queues at passport control and, in some cases, missing their flights.'
Industry Calls for Pause
Earlier this week, Europe's airports and airlines – including IATA, A4E, and ACI Europe – sent an open letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urging a pause on the EES. The letter warned of potential five-hour queues, stating that passengers at large and smaller airports were waiting 'for extended periods outside terminal buildings' because EES kiosks 'cannot process arrivals quickly enough.'
ACI Europe boss Stefan Schulte said at an industry event in Prague: 'Stop pretending that EES is working just fine – it is not. Passengers are queuing for hours at peak traffic times and I just do not know how we will be able to cope in the coming weeks with the expected increase in traffic.'
Only Greece Granted Suspension
So far, Greece is the only country to suspend EES biometric registration for UK passport holders this summer, citing potential lengthy waits. Italy and Portugal wanted to follow but were blocked by the EU's executive body. Under current rules, the only legal exception allows pausing biometric collection for six-hour windows during extremely busy periods between July and September.
