An urgent review of the new Schengen Entry/Exit System (EES) in airports has been called upon after travellers encountered widespread problems. With delays of up to three hours at peak traffic periods, Airports Council International (ACI) has urged the European Union to address the “mounting operational issues” of the scheme’s rollout. According to the body, airports in France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal and Spain were especially impacted by the new system. 

EES was launched on October 12 this year, and is due to be completed by April 10, 2026. The system requires non-EU nationals travelling for short periods of time to have a photo taken of their face and/or their fingerprints scanned. However, the scheme’s introduction has so far caused airport border control processing times to increase by up to 70%, ACI said, with wait times of up to three hours expected.

The issues identified by the group include faults with the self-service kiosks and automated border control gates not being available for EES processing.

They also added that there are not enough guards to manage the scheme at the airport, and a key app allowing travellers to register before flying is not available.

Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe, said: “Significant discomfort is already being inflicted upon travellers, and airport operations impacted with the current threshold for registering third country nationals set at only 10%.

“Unless all the operational issues we are raising today are fully resolved within the coming weeks, increasing this registration threshold to 35% as of 9 January — as required by the EES implementation calendar — will inevitably result in much more severe congestion and systemic disruption for airports and airlines. This will possibly involve serious safety hazards.”

He added: “We fully understand and support the importance of the EES and remain fully committed to its implementation. But the EES cannot be about mayhem for travellers and chaos at our airports.

“If the current operational issues cannot be addressed and the system stabilised by early January, we will need swift action from the European Commission and Schengen Member States to allow additional flexibility in its roll‑out.”

A European Commission spokesperson said EU member states have not reported or confirmed the three hour wait or 70% claim.

“The Commission is monitoring very closely both the compliance with the legal bases and the operations of the EES at central level and the impact at the borders at national level,” the spokesperson said.