Waiting times at border control points in airports have continued to deteriorate according to the latest data collected from sites across Europe, according to Airport Council International Europe.
The body warns that disruption risks have been mounting with the full Schengen Entry-Exit System rollout kicking in during the Easter travel peak. Europe’s airports and airlines have raised renewed concerns over the operational impact of the Schengen Entry-Exit System as the transition phase has come to an end right in the travel peak of the Easter holidays.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE, and Ourania Georgoutsakou, Managing Director of A4E, shared that passengers entering the Schengen area are likely to wait even longer at border control during Easter due to the persisting operational challenges around the EES rollout.
Following the transition to mandatory registration of 50pc pof Third Country Nationals on 10 March, waiting times have regularly reached up to two hours at peak traffic times with some airports reporting even longer queues. Border control authorities have continued to use both partial and full suspension of EES processes at most airports during travel peaks.
The next critical milestones have approached with the requirement to register 100pc of Third Country Nationals as of today, 31 March followed by the end of the transition period on 9 April. From that point onwards Member States will no longer be able to fully suspend the system in response to operational pressures. Airports and airlines have reiterated their call on the European Commission and Member States to extend the possibility to fully or partially suspend EES where operationally necessary during the entirety of the 2026 summer season. Fundamental challenges have remained largely unresolved including persistent shortages of border control staff technical issues with self-service kiosks and limited use of automated border control gates.
