British passengers flying to Europe are being warned they could face hours of delays as new EU post-Brexit biometric checks come into force this weekend.
The much-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) launches on Sunday with non-EU citizens required to provide fingerprints and facial scans when arriving in Schengen Zone countries, including popular holiday destinations France, Germany, Greece and Spain.
Government officials have warned that there could be “significant waits” for travellers as people with onward connections – including those with pre-booked taxi transfers, hire cars or cruise departures – were warned to rebook on earlier flights or delay their booking times to avoid missing them.
Airlines have raised concerns about the added time and technology needed to process multiple passengers.
“We hope massive delays won’t emerge, but it’s obvious there are some concerns,” a spokesperson for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents airlines, said.
“There hasn’t been very much testing of this done from end to end. So some of the IT systems may not work as smoothly as we hope.”
The new checks will allow the EU to detect UK and other nationals who have stayed more than 90 out of 180 days.
The Government predicts the extra checks will take one to two minutes for each person, meaning a full short-haul flight of 200 people could take over six hours to process at one kiosk (or an extra hour if an airport had six kiosks).
Airports in Bucharest in Romania, Athens in Greece and Milan in Italy are most at risk of delays for passengers on arrival, according to aviation economist Oliver Ranson.
Travellers are also being warned to expect delays if they are attempting to leave UK ports where passport checks are done prior to departure – at the Port of Dover, Eurostar and Eurotunnel – where manual passport stamps are still required alongside the new face and fingerprint scans for at least the next six months.
A kiosk to carry out biometric checks under the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) at the airport in Madrid, Spain (Photo: Juan Medina/Reuters)Government officials say that passengers should rely on information provided by travel companies to determine when they should arrive at UK ports.
EES will be rolled out gradually, meaning that only a minority of European airports will enforce the system straight away and just 10 per cent of border crossings are expected to be recorded from 12 October.
But a poll by travel association ABTA found only 61 per cent of people are even aware of the EES rollout. Amsterdam’s Schipol airport has already publicly raised concerns about the checks, admitting the extra time to process passengers will be “a challenge”.
Christmas and Easter first true tests of system
While October is not expected to pose too many problems for travellers, the busier periods of Christmas and Easter – with EES fully operational by 10 April 2026 – will represent true tests of the system.
“There’s a lot of travel at Christmas, so that will be a test, but it depends on which states have rolled out and to what extent,” the IATA spokesperson said.
“The public campaign has not been that strong. I don’t know how well the public are being informed. There’s a slight element of fingers crossed. There’s the potential for things to go wrong.”
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Longer waits are expected at border control on arrival so you should allow more time when you land by booking later transfers, or letting your car hire company know if you are running late so you don’t incur a fee.”
Julia Lo-Bue Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership consortium for travel agents, said passengers should book flights that arrive three to four hours earlier to avoid missing connections or transfers.
“We anticipate some initial disruption during the first few weeks as the system beds in, as is typical with any new process of this scale,” she said.
“The system will face its greatest test during peak arrival times, when high volumes of flights land simultaneously. These periods already create bottlenecks at border control, and the additional processing time required for EES registration is likely to exacerbate congestion.
“The most important advice for all travellers is to allow significantly more time for potential delays. We recommend arriving at least three to four hours earlier than usual, having your passport and documents ready for biometric enrolment, and considering off-peak travel times if your schedule allows flexibility.”
Dusseldorf will be the first airport to start EES checks in Germany, Vienna airport will launch Austria’s checks, in Norway, only Oslo airport will run checks and Switzerland will begin EES at Basel and Geneva.
In Greece, Athens, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, and Herakleion airports will launch EES on 12 October.
But some countries have still not announced which of their airports will implement EES first, including France. A spokesperson for the French embassy in the United Kingdom said while the “vast majority” of border crossing points will launch EES on 12 October, but its use will be “very limited” and during off-peak hours.
EES will start operating at all Portuguese external border crossing points – airports, seaports and land borders – on 12 October.
Czechia, Estonia and Luxembourg have said they are ready to operate EES at all entry points from 12 October.
Mr Ranson, editor of Airline Revenue Economics, has pinpointed the airports most at risk of long delays for passengers arriving at them.
Bucharest’s Henri Coandă International Airport, Athens Airport, and Milan Malpensa airport came out on top as these had the highest capacity for the most number of hours per day
Ranson said: “If it takes people longer than usual to get through the arrivals hall, the queues will build, then airports will say they can’t have any more flights arriving.
“We don’t know what will go wrong on the day [EES launches]. We do know that if there is disruption it will lead to at least some people taking longer to process.
“Even if half of the people being processed get through in normal time, that can lead to serious disruption.”
Saj Ahmad, Chief Analyst at StrategicAero Research, said that the Government’s projection that it will take a couple of minutes for each passenger was a “bullish view”.
“The realistic view is that EES deployment and first registrations will take more than double that – and even longer if some sort of manual intervention is needed if peoples passports are damaged or the fingerprint machines don’t play ball.”
Ferry trips and Eurotunnel kiosks ‘won’t be operational’
At both Folkestone and Dover, only coach and freight traffic will be checked in the first instance, with car passengers following in a few weeks.
Passengers have been warned that EES processing at the Port of Dover will take six times as long as current passport checks for each car.
Officials there are confident measures they have put in place will stop roads to the port clogging up.
But just days before Sunday’s go-live date, it emerged that the kiosks to take passengers’ biometrics would not be operational, with checks instead to be carried out by the Police Aux Frontieres (PAF – French border police).
A spokesperson for the French Interior Ministry told The i Paper the kiosks will be “gradually activated in the coming years”.
Confusion over questions passengers must answer
There is also confusion around whether passengers will be asked questions about having accommodation, funds, a return ticket and travel insurance when registering at kiosks.
During a recent demonstration at Folkestone, passengers using the kiosks were asked to answer if they hold a visa, a European resident permit, if they are a European citizen or specify if they are not in any of those situations.
The Government “strongly recommends” holidaymakers book travel and medical cover, with France warning border officers may ask for proof of health insurance. But it insisted that medical insurance will not be a mandatory requirement for UK citizens travelling to the EU under EES.
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At a Eurostar trial-run last month, passengers were asked if they had a return ticket, accommodation, enough money for their stay and medical insurance.
Eurostar is now in talks with French authorities about permanently removing these questions, which don’t currently appear when passengers register.
Passengers must register once for EES but will still complete an entry/exit check each time they travel into or out of the Schengen Area. For the first visit, a full digital record with a facial image and fingerprints is needed, then on subsequent trips within three years passengers will only scan their passport and re-verify their biometrics.
Passengers will need to re-register after three years, but children under 12 are not required to give fingerprints.
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