EU leaders call 'urgent meeting' as airport chaos grows
- Port of Dover Chief Executive Doug Banister warned this week that EES passport checks will cause repeated episodes of severe congestion, with vehicles potentially 'spilling out of the port onto the public highway for miles' throughout summer.
- The European Union's new Entry and Exit System requires biometric checks for all travelers entering or leaving Schengen countries, marking the first peak summer period since its full-scale rollout in April significantly slowed passenger processing across European airports.
- On Wednesday, European airports called for 'immediate intervention' from EU leaders, while low-cost carrier Ryanair demanded suspension until September, arguing the system 'is not ready for peak summer volumes' and risks 'creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress.'
- EU leaders scheduled an 'urgent meeting' with industry representatives Thursday; however, the European Commission argued EES impact was 'limited,' stating member states must ensure 'sufficient numbers of border guards' and appropriate infrastructure.
- As schools in the United Kingdom do not break up until July 17, experts advise travelers to arrive at least three hours early for international flights, with the worst congestion expected at the end of July and start of August.
58 Articles
58 Articles
According to the airport associations, the new EU border control system ensures long waiting times at the terminals. Travellers from third countries often have to wait unreasonably long during handling, said the president of the German Airport Association, Massenbach, the German Press Agency.
Airlines and airports demand to pause the new biometric EU border controls during the summer holidays. Scanners bring passengers into sweating.
The police are once again ramping up their forces to eliminate long queues at border controls.
New biometric control could complicate holidays for extra-EU travellers
Jyllands-Posten
The police are deploying more officers to handle the more thorough border control that is part of a new passport control system.
Since October 2025, new controls have been applied to citizens from non-Schengen countries for entry into the EU. According to the airport association, the clearances take far too long. Source link : https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2026-07/airport-waiting time-eu-schengenraum-sicherheit Author : DIE ZEIT: Deutschland – Annika Benzeng Publish date : 2026-07-04 04:51:00 Copyright for syndicated content lengths to the left source.
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