Warning issued to travellers as airport wait times ‘triple’ under new system
Ryanair has warned holidaymakers to prepare for extended wait times this summer with the EU's new border system leading to delays in getting through passport control.
The digital Entry Exit System (EES), phased in since last October, requires non-EU citizens to register their fingerprint and have their photograph taken when entering one of the 29 countries in the Schengen area.
This is done either at automated machines known as 'kiosks' or occasionally with border officers.
That information is checked again upon departure.
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However, with the summer holidays now upon us, the system is reportedly being strained and causing delays in airports.
In a statement released this week, Ryanair said the ESS rollout has 'failed' and warned travellers to arrive at airports earlier than usual for their flights due to possible delays.
A statement read: "Ryanair today [July 15] warned millions of UK families travelling to Europe this summer to prepare for lengthy passport queues and airport delays caused by the EU’s failed Entry/Exit System (EES), which continues to create disruption months after its introduction.
"With schools now breaking for summer and passenger volumes reaching peak levels, the failed EES rollout is going to cause unnecessary delays and long queues for UK families."
The European Commission said disruption in most EU airports was limited but were continuing to provide support to states with implementing the system.
It added: "This support will continue to the fullest extent possible."
Wait times 'tripled' in some airports
A BBC report has found that waiting times at Faro airport in Portugal have tripled on occasions.
Superintendent Pedro Oliveira, who is in charge of border control at the airport, said: "Sometimes what used to be a 10-minute queue... takes over 30 minutes."
Supt Oliveria also shared that bugs in the IT system have led to issues, though it's not happening as often.
"[EES] makes us very dependent on the technology…. servers often are intertwined and connected, so sometimes something that happens in Warsaw affects our system here.
"At times, there are just complications with the server of the European Union. Sometimes crashes happen in all member states at the same time, and we need a few minutes to reboot everything."
The BBC also interviewed Chief Aviation Officer at Rome's Fiumicino airport, Ivan Bassato, who said that the use of e-gates, rather than kiosks, has "improved things significantly."
Yet, there have still been an increase in wait times for Brits, rising up to 20 minutes from seven.
"We are not at the point where you have the same quality of the process [as] before the EES," Bassato said.
"I think that we need to fix urgently certain aspects of the system."
The BBC interviewed tourists in Rome's Piazza di Spagna and was told by a man from Yorkshire called Carl that it took him and his family two hours to get through security.
"I knew it was going to be bad, but not as bad as that."
RyanAir identifies airports with repeated problems
In their statement, Ryanair named 15 airports they identified as 'hotspots' for significant delays, with flyers facing long passport control queues and a wait to be processed on arrivals and departures.
The list contains many popular tourist destinations, including city breaks as well as beach holidays. They are:
- Lisbon
- Tenerife South
- Madrid
- Lanzarote
- Alicante
- Malaga
- Milan Bergamo
- Milan Malpensa
- Verona
- Paris Beauvais
- Berlin
- Cologne
- Frankfurt Hahn
- Krakow
- Budapest
Ryanair’s Chief Operations Officer, Neal McMahon, said: "The reality is that the EES system isn’t working properly and families are paying the price for a system that does not work months after launch. Passengers should not be the testing ground for unfinished border infrastructure.
"We support calls from EU Member States to urgently extend the EES flexibilities.
"This will give airports and border authorities the time to improve the infrastructure, fix the broken devices and hire more staff so that families can travel through Europe without disruption.”
A recent survey commissioned by Booking.com indicated that nearly three out of five UK holidaymakers travelling to Europe this year expect delays linked to EES.
Almost half of respondents said they fear missing flights because of the border checks.
LADbible Group has approached the European Commission for comment.
Daniel Murphy