Travelers heading to Europe this summer are being warned to expect significant delays at airports and border crossings as the European Union’s new digital border system faces persistent technical problems, staffing shortages, and surging passenger volumes.
The Entry/Exit System (EES), which went fully operational across 29 countries on April 10, replaces the traditional passport stamp with digital biometric checks. Non-EU travelers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and other visa-exempt countries now have their fingerprints, photograph, and passport details scanned and recorded at the border each time they enter the Schengen Area.
The change has been far from seamless. Security processing times at airports have risen by 70 percent, according to Airports Council International (ACI) Europe. On the first full day of operations, one flight departing for the UK was missing 51 passengers at departure time. Another flight had zero passengers at the gate when boarding closed, and 90 minutes later a dozen passengers still had not made it through border control.
Since the phased rollout began in October 2025, the system has processed 45 million border crossings, refused entry to 24,000 people, and flagged 600 individuals as potential security risks, according to the European Commission. Those statistics underscore the system’s stated purpose of strengthening border security. But they also reflect a system struggling to keep up with real-world travel demand.
Industry bodies are sounding the alarm as the peak summer holiday season gets underway. Speaking at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro on June 6, the organization’s regional vice-president for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman, warned that disruption was already spreading across popular destinations. “We are already seeing delays and missed connections in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, and elsewhere,” he said.
According to IATA, a routine passport check that once took 20 to 25 seconds now takes about 90 seconds under the EES. Schvartzman warned that queues of three, four, five, or even six hours were possible if authorities failed to address staffing and technical issues before the busiest weeks of the season. Some of the longest delays have been recorded at airports serving British holiday favorites, including Alicante and Lanzarote in Spain.
The problems are not limited to airports. At the Port of Dover, French border police invoked emergency provisions in May that allowed some EES procedures to be relaxed after queues stretched for hours during the first major holiday weekend since the system came into force. Biometric registration equipment at Dover is still not fully installed, with French officers creating traveler records manually.
The root causes are multiple. Chronic understaffing at border control points is compounded by persistent technology failures with the new system. Adoption of the Frontex pre-registration mobile app, which would allow travelers to submit biometric data before arriving at the border, remains poor across Schengen states. The European Commission has allowed border authorities to temporarily suspend electronic checks at busy times through September 2026, but industry groups argue that flexibility needs to be extended further.
“Border control authorities must be allowed to fully suspend the EES when waiting times become excessive,” said Oliver Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe. “This is essential not only in the coming weeks, but throughout the peak summer travel season.”
In a joint statement issued in February, ACI Europe, Airlines for Europe (A4E), and IATA pointed to what they called a “complete disconnect” between EU institutions’ confidence in the system and the reality of “massive delays and inconvenience.” They warned that without operational safeguards, the EES could undermine Europe’s reputation as a travel destination.
The EES was originally scheduled to launch in 2020 but was delayed multiple times. Technical issues pushed it to 2023, and French airport concerns about disrupting traffic during the 2024 Summer Olympics caused a further postponement. It now operates across all EU member states except Ireland and Cyprus, plus four non-EU Schengen nations: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
The system is just one part of the EU’s broader digital border strategy. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), a visa-waiver program for visa-exempt non-EU travelers similar to the US ESTA, was originally slated to launch in 2022 but has been repeatedly delayed because it depends on EES being operational first. ETIAS is now expected toward the end of 2026. When it arrives, it will cost 20 euros per application and remain valid for three years.
For now, travelers are advised to arrive at airports with extra time, use the Travel to Europe app to pre-register biometric data before departure, and keep passports and travel documents easily accessible. Those with tight connecting flights or same-day onward travel plans should consider adding substantial buffer time to their itineraries.
The bottom line is clear: three years of delayed implementation have given way to a rushed rollout that airports, border agencies, and travelers alike are still struggling to adapt to. With summer traffic set to double at Europe’s busiest hubs, the question is not whether there will be delays, but how bad they will get before the system stabilizes.