ACI Europe and A4E propose six‑point plan to cut Schengen EES queues
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Industry bodies say passenger waiting times at Schengen Entry/Exit System checkpoints regularly exceed two hours and can reach five hours, and they have presented a six‑point plan to address the delays.
Queue lengths
Passenger waiting times at Schengen EES checkpoints routinely exceed two hours and can reach up to five hours during peak traffic periods, according to ACI EUROPE and Airlines for Europe.
Identified causes
The organisations attribute the delays to structural shortcomings, including insufficient border‑control staffing, instability of the IT systems that support EES, limited deployment of self‑service kiosks and automated border‑control gates, and constraints in the Travel to Europe pre‑registration app.
Six‑point plan
ACI EUROPE and Airlines for Europe have outlined a six‑point plan that calls for removing duplicate checks, optimising biometric verification, preventing duplicate passenger profiles, upgrading the pre‑registration app and web portal, expanding harmonised automated border control for third‑country nationals, and establishing a permanent mechanism to temporarily suspend biometric registration when queues become excessive.
Appeal to authorities
The industry bodies urge the European Commission and Schengen Member States to implement the proposed reforms promptly and in cooperation with airports and airlines.