Europe’s airlines and airports have urged the European Commission to temporarily suspend new biometric border checks during the peak summer travel season, warning that long queues are delaying flights and leaving some aircrafts departing half empty.
According to the Guardian on Wednesday, in a joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, industry groups said the situation had reached a “critical point” as airports struggle to process growing numbers of passengers under the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES).
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The groups described that passengers are being forced to wait for extended periods outside terminals because border control facilities cannot process arrivals quickly enough.
According to the letter, some travelers are spending up to five hours in border control queues during peak periods, while airlines have been forced to close boarding with passengers still waiting to clear checks.
The industry groups said some flights have departed only partially full because passengers could not reach their gates in time, while other departures have been delayed as airlines waited for travelers stuck at border control.
They warned that border agencies, airports, and airlines are facing “unsustainable pressure” and called for immediate action before disruption worsens during the busiest weeks of the summer holiday season.
The groups, including Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), Airlines for Europe (A4E), and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), called on the commission to allow airports to temporarily suspend biometric checks whenever passenger volumes exceed the operational capacity of border authorities, especially during July and August.
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The biometric Entry/Exit System, introduced in phases since last October, requires non-EU nationals to register fingerprints and a facial photograph when entering the bloc.
The rollout has faced operational challenges, with Greece already suspending biometric checks for British travelers until September, in order to ease pressure during the summer.
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