Huge delays at major airports have been reported across Europe after new post-Brexit digital border controls were introduced.
Biometric and facial recognition checks are now required due to the implementation of the EU’s Entry-Exit System (EES) for non-EU citizens which kicked in earlier this month.
Since its phased introduction in October 2025, the EES has continuously caused disruptions across several European airports. Issues have included system crashes and longer processing times, especially during the 2025 holiday season.
According to the Airports Council International (ACI), processing times increased by 70 per cent in some locations due to the added steps involved in biometric data collection.
ACI Europe has said queues are now typically averaging two to three hours or even longer during peak traffic periods, and pointed out this is despite border authorities still being able to partially suspend the system by not capturing biometrics.
Since it became fully operational across Europe on 10 April, more airports have ground to a standstill, with destinations popular with British holidaymakers – like Spain and Portugal – among the worst affected.
Agata Łyżnik, a spokesperson for ACI Europe, told The i Paper: “Queues are now typically averaging two to three hours or even longer during peak traffic periods – despite border authorities still being able to partially suspend the system by not capturing biometrics.”
Amid fears the system is not prepared for summer holidays, some have called for a complete suspension of the EES.
This comes as energy experts have warned that Europe has only six weeks of jet fuel left in reserve.
Portugal
Long delays at airports in major Portuguese cities such as Lisbon, Porto and Faro, have resulted in them suspending EES registration temporarily.
Olivier Jankovec, director of the ACI European division, told the Financial Times: “We are seeing those queueing times now, at peak times, when traffic is just starting to build up.”
Ex-UK and EU diplomat Rupert Joy was among those facing a long wait at passport control at Lisbon Airport.
He wrote on X: “Complete chaos at Lisbon airport. Loads of people missing flights despite arriving hours in advance because of insanely long queues to passport control. No one seems to be in control or to have any idea what to do.”
Another traveller who was grounded at the airport wrote: “Having the machines at the start of the queue before going through passport control just caused a massive queue leaving Lisbon.”
Spain
Spanish airports including Palma Majorca and Tenerife airports have also seen long delays.
British tourist, Jack Howes, told the Daily Mail his recent trip to the Mediterranean country was a “disaster” – after being slowed down by the EES system in Almeria Airport.
He said: “There was an assistant who said, ‘It’s shit but you have to keep trying.”’
Howes claims an EES machine rejected his details four times, before staff instructed him to use a manual checkout, but when he went there he found it was unmanned.
Passengers arriving at Malaga airport were among those stuck in long delays due to EES border checks (Photo: John Calladine)“So in the end I just went to the gate and it let me through anyway,” he said.
The VisaHQ website reported, at Palma Mallorca Airport, there were queues of between two and three hours.
ACI Europe and Airlines for Europe (A4E) warned that some UK-bound aircraft left half-empty after boarding gates closed while passengers were still stuck in the immigration line.
One person delayed at Tenerife South Airport shared a video a huge queue she was stuck in on Facebook and wrote: “Tenerife South Airport departures for the passport stamp before boarding. I do worry about summer which is going to be another record breaker. What is the solution? The new EES system just isn’t good enough.”
Belgium
In Belgium, their have been reports of passengers at Brussels Airport having to wait in queues of up to two hours to get their passports checked.
Brussels saw significant disruption to flight operations, according to the ACI. It is claimed passengers are missing flights and delays due to prolonged border processing times.The ACI reported that in one instance there weren’t any passengers on a plane when the gate closed and one flight from Brussels to the UK left the city on 10 April without 51 passengers.
It is reported that there were no passengers on another flight at gate-closing time, and 12 passengers were yet to reach the gate 90 minutes later.
Italy
In Milan, which is in the midst of a heatwave, easyJet passengers were left vomiting and passing out on 12 April as they waited for more than three hours in queues at Linate Airport, the BBC reports.
According to The Times, 100 people were marooned at the airport while waiting to board a flight to Manchester.
An easyJet spokesperson blamed the delays on EES, saying: “We are aware that some passengers departing from Milan Linate experienced longer than usual waiting times at passport control and we advised customers due to fly to allow additional time to make their way through the airport.
“We continue to urge border authorities to ensure they make full and effective use of the permitted flexibilities for as long as needed while EES is implemented, to avoid these unacceptable border delays for our customers.”
Delays were also reported at Milan Malpensa Airport in Lombardy. One person complained: “Two hours after landing and I’m still an hour from clearing passport control.”
“Good job. Good try,” another delayed passenger fumed.
What is EES and how does it work?
The system has been brought in to track movements of non-EU travellers across the Schengen Area.
People must register passport information and biometrics at borders, including a facial scan and fingerprints. Data will then be stored and kept on file and for later visits to the EU. Travellers have to verify their details which remain in the system for three years, and will be brought up again when they visit kiosks at borders. Since October last year, it has been slowly rolled out across Europe, and now 29 countries have introduced the system.
A person uses an EES kiosk during the preview at Kings Cross St Pancras for the Eurostar (Photo: Lucy North/PA)The checks have been brought in to assist the EU in easily identifying travellers who overstay the 90-day limit that non-EU nationals are permitted when they visit the Schengen Area (this does not include the Republic of Ireland or Cyprus). Industry leaders have reported that delays are being caused by people registering their biometric details, which often taking several minutes per person.
Another reason for delays were technical issues such as system crashes and kiosks failing to process data at automated gates.
Should it be suspended?
ACI Europe said its data – which assesses airports across 15 countries – shows that waiting times at border control have significantly increased following the full roll-out of the EES.
Łyżnik added: “As widely reported in several countries, this is creating extremely difficult and distressing conditions for passengers, while also causing major operational disruptions for both airports and airlines.
“With traffic volumes set to rise further in the coming weeks and months, as is customary during the summer season, we are deeply concerned about the situation worsening and becoming unmanageable.”
ACI Europe’s Jankovec and Ourania Georgoutsakou, managing director of A4E, called for the systems to be suspended if they are causing big queues. They said in a joint statement: “While we will continue to closely monitor developments in the coming days, it is already evident that greater flexibility is immediately needed.
“Border control authorities must be allowed to fully suspend the EES when waiting times become excessive. This is essential not only in the coming weeks, but throughout the peak summer travel season.”
In a statement issued to The i Paper, Nicholas Smith, dynamic packages director at eSky Group, parent company of travel agent Thomas Cook, urged “customers to check directly with their airline ahead of departure for the latest route-specific advice”.
Ruth Cadbury, Transport Select Committee chair, said: “The Transport Committee is not currently doing any formal work on ESS, but clearly it is not satisfactory that some passengers are waiting several hours at border checks and we are keeping a close eye on the situation as we head towards the peak summer months.”
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