NEWS FLASH
Airports Council Worldwide Europe (ACI), the one worldwide skilled affiliation of airport operators representing over 600 airports on the continent, has referred to as upon the European Fee and Schengen Member States to urgently handle the mounting operational points associated to the continued implementation of the Schengen Entry‑Exit System (EES), which began on October 12. “The progressive scaling‑up of the registration and seize of biometric knowledge from third nation nationals getting into the Schengen space has resulted in border management processing occasions at airports growing by as much as 70%, with ready occasions of as much as three hours at peak site visitors durations. That is severely impacting the passenger expertise – with airports in France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal and Spain particularly impacted”, ACI Europe stated. That is regardless of the present threshold for registering third nation nationals set at solely 10%. It is because of enhance to 35% as of January 9, 2026.
Common outages and ongoing technical and staffing shortcomings within the EES are undermining the predictability, resilience and effectivity of border operations. Persistent configuration points, restricted availability of self-service kiosks and ABC gates, the absence of a useful pre-registration app and persistent border guard shortages at airports proceed to constrain efficient implementation.
