European airport authorities have issued a stark warning: new European Union border checks are substantially lengthening wait times for British nationals entering the bloc, with some instances seeing delays triple the previous average.
Ivan Bassato, chief aviation officer at Rome's Fiumicino airport, informed the BBC that average wait times for UK citizens passing through the EU's new Entry/Exit System (EES) in the Italian capital have jumped from approximately 7 minutes to 20 minutes.
The EES, which began a gradual introduction on October 12th, 2025, and became fully operational on April 10th, 2026, is designed to log the entry and exit of non-EU short-term visitors into an EU-wide database. While travel organizations, airports, and airlines have expressed concerns about the system, particularly in anticipation of peak summer travel, the high volume of UK passengers to certain EU destinations has made the system a notable challenge for British travelers.
Bassato acknowledged the impact on service quality at Rome Fiumicino, stating, "We are not at the point where you have the same quality of the process [as] before the EES." He noted that while new self-service biometric kiosks, often called e-gates, have improved the situation, urgent adjustments are still necessary. "I think that we need to fix urgently certain aspects of the system," he added.
These concerns echo earlier reports in June, where officials from Rome's Fiumicino and Ciampino airports were reportedly considering halting EES checks to avert a potential "disaster" during summer peak travel. Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, expressed significant worry about the summer season to the Financial Times, rating his concern an "eight or nine" out of ten and stating, "The process proves to be incompatible with the peak volumes that we are going to face. So the only way is to open up the valve. There is no way that we can deliver 100 per cent of the enrollment."
Similar issues have been reported at Faro airport in southern Portugal, where Pedro Oliveira, head of border control, told the BBC that average wait times have also tripled in some cases, with queues extending to over 30 minutes from a previous 10-minute average. Delays have also been observed at various Spanish airports and the Port of Dover.
Despite these warnings, European officials have resisted calls to suspend EES checks, with the European Commission repeatedly refusing to halt the system during the busy summer period. While EU Commission officials have conceded that the EES is "not perfect," they maintain that a full suspension is "not needed" and "not possible." Magnus Brunner, EU migration chief, has pledged in a letter seen by AFP to resolve system issues, following blame from airports and airlines for disruption.
France's Interior Ministry, however, defended the system on a recent Monday, asserting it is fulfilling its purpose. The ministry reported that since its introduction in 2025, over 44,000 individuals have been refused entry to the EU, primarily for visa or 90-day limit overstays or security concerns. According to the Interior Ministry's statement to The Independent, more than 110 million entries and exits have been recorded, with over 1,100 entry refusals concerning individuals deemed threats to internal security, demonstrating, they claim, that "EES effectively protects European citizens on a daily basis."
Since the EES implementation, numerous locations have reported substantial delays at border crossings, with the situation exacerbated during peak travel times like Easter holidays and the summer season. The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has called for a suspension of the new controls until next summer, citing fears of chaos in popular holiday destinations.
The EES system, which replaces manual passport stamping, collects biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images. This data must be registered at the first external Schengen border crossing for all non-EU nationals, including UK citizens, who are subject to the system following Brexit. The system was initially conceived before Brexit and had UK support at that time.
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