The European Union’s new border control program, EU Entry/Exit System, or ESS, is now fully operational across 25 countries of the Schengen area and four associated countries, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. However, when the long-anticipated and much-delayed system was fully activated on April 10, it generated border wait times of 2 to 4 hours in many airports, resulting in delays and missed flights across the entire continent.
The system is designed to replace the old process of stamping passports with biometric border control. On their first entry, travelers from outside the EU entering for short stays – up to 90 days in a 180-day period – are required to provide four fingerprints and a facial photo in kiosks or booths at the control point.
Since returning travelers already have their records in the system, the border checks for these travelers are faster. First-time users, who need more time to go through the initial process at the border control slow the line behind them.
Reportedly, the first day saw passenger wait times of 2 to 3 hours at peak periods at airports across the Schengen area, with some warning of delays of up to 4 hours. The disruptions impacted flight operations at some of the region’s busiest airports, including Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes in France, and Geneva in Switzerland.
The rollout of ESS had been phased in over six months beginning in October 2025 with 10 percent of ports. The program then expanded to 35 percent in January and to 50 percent by March. Even during the staged launch problems had already surfaced, with some countries pausing the rollout and other locations reported processing time increases of 70 percent.
The earlier problems had prompted ACI Europe, A4E and IATA to issue a joint statement to EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner in February. The industry groups warned that airport staffing and technology were falling behind the demands of the system, and that travelers had been slow to adopt the Frontex pre-registration app.
During the earlier phases, border control authorities had the flexibility to suspend ESS processes when problems developed. However, once full operations began on April 10, these broader suspension options ended, although member states could still use partial suspensions that let them skip biometric capture in some cases.
For its part, the European Commission remains confident in the program’s success. According to a spokesperson, “What we can see from the first days of full operation is that the system is working very well. In the overwhelming majority of member states there are no issues,” although there were a “few member states where technical issues have been detected” but that they “are being addressed.”
The Commission reports that the average time for registrations at full capacity is 70 seconds, a figure disputed by ACI Europe. Pointing to the system’s ability to delivery tighter border security, officials note that since EES was introduced in October, it handled more than 52 million entries and exits, while denying more than 27,000, almost 700 of whom were individuals identified as a security threat.
However, in a joint statement, Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe, and Ourania Georgoutsakou, managing director of A4E, called for greater flexibility to allow border control authorities to fully suspend the EES when wait times become excessive.
“Our support for the EES and its objectives is unwavering,” the statement continued. “However, strengthening border management must not come at the expense of operational efficiency or the passenger experience. This is essential not only in the coming weeks, but throughout the peak summer travel season.”
