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Tue, 23 Jun 2026

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 Stop pretending EU's new border system is working, says airports chief

The head of Europe's airports lobby says concerns over EES are keeping him awake at night and he doesn't know how airports will cope over the summer.

* EES has caused significant delays at airports, with some passengers missing flights
* Stefan Schulte, president of ACI Europe, says politicians should stop pretending that EES is working fine
* Passengers are queuing for hours at peak traffic times and it's unclear how airports will cope with expected increase in traffic
* The system obliges most travellers from outside the EU to register biometric data, including facial scans and fingerprints
* There have been reports of lengthy queues caused by new border checks, prompting Wizz Air to urge British holidaymakers to arrive at European airports three hours before their flight home departs
* Individual governments are being allowed to suspend EES in some circumstances until September, but Schulte warns that this may not be enough to avoid further chaos
* Some countries have considered exempting British nationals from EES checks, but the situation remains unclear.