EU airport chief: ‘I don’t know how we’ll cope’ with new border system
Europe’s airport chief has warned that he “doesn’t know” how the continent’s airports will “cope” with the huge delays caused by a new EU border system as the holiday season looms.
Stefan Schulte, president of European airports trade body ACI Europe, told an industry event in Prague: “Passengers are queuing for hours at peak traffic times and I just do not know how we will be able to cope in the coming weeks with the expected increase in traffic.”
The EU finished rolling out its new Entry-Exit System (EES) earlier this year, which requires passengers from outside of the bloc to register biometric information when entering and leaving most European countries.
The new system has been blamed for causing significant delays and missed flights at a number of airports, though others report that it has been implemented smoothly.
Schulte called on politicians to “stop pretending […] that EES is working just fine. It is not.”
Suspend system ‘to avoid chaos’
“We urgently need full flexibility for border control authorities to suspend the EES whenever needed to avoid further chaos – along with a rethink of those processes,” he added.
“This is about showing respect and decency for those who chose to travel to the EU, and safeguarding our reputation as a welcoming and efficient destination.”
The European Commission, which oversees the EES, has said it will allow airports to suspend the new system in some circumstances until September.
The airports chief told the BBC’s World at One that governments should intervene to suspend the EES, rather than allowing queues to pile up while individual airports decide whether to step in.
The period of summer airport traffic will last far beyond early September, Schulte warned, and could result in the “complete collapse of the system”.
Wizz Air: Expect queues
Earlier this year, a dispute erupted over the system in Greece, where the tourism minister promised Brits that they would not be “burdened” by the new biometric checks.
But the Greek Foreign Ministry later denied that any such exemption was in place, saying that it was not aware that “specific nationalities are temporarily exempt from the relevant procedure”.
Last month, the UK boss of budget airline Wizz Air told passengers that they should leave at least three hours to pass through the new system.
While there has been some “seamless travel” in some areas, Yvonne Moynihan said there had been long queues at “usual hotspots such as Spain, Portugal, France”.