ACI EUROPE Warns of Systemic Disruption Risk as EU Entry/Exit System Scales Up

Airports Council International EUROPE has called for an urgent review of the European Union’s Entry/Exit System, warning that unresolved technical and operational issues could trigger widespread disruption as the system scales up in early 2026. The appeal was published on December 18, 2025, following more than two months of live operations under the Schengen Area’s new biometric border regime.

The Entry/Exit System, which began operations on October 12, 2025, is designed to register third-country nationals entering and exiting the Schengen Area using biometric identifiers, including facial images and fingerprints. While the system is being introduced gradually, ACI EUROPE says airports are already experiencing serious instability that is affecting passenger processing and airport operations.

According to ACI EUROPE, airports have faced recurring system outages, configuration issues, and inconsistent availability of key components such as self-service kiosks and automated border control gates. The organization also points to the absence of a fully operational pre-registration application, which was intended to shift part of the enrollment process away from airport terminals. These issues, ACI argues, have compounded existing staffing pressures at border checkpoints.

ACI EUROPE has highlighted the timing of an upcoming increase in operational load as a critical risk factor. Under the current rollout plan, only around 10 percent of eligible travelers are being fully processed through the Entry/Exit System. That figure is scheduled to rise to approximately 35 percent on January 9, 2026. ACI warns that scaling the system under current conditions could result in what it describes as systemic disruption across European airports.

In public comments, ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec has warned that prolonged queues and overcrowding could create serious safety hazards in terminal environments, particularly during peak travel periods. ACI reports that processing times at some airports have increased by as much as 70 percent compared to pre-EES baselines, with passenger wait times extending to several hours during periods of instability.

ACI EUROPE is calling on the European Commission, eu-LISA, Frontex, and Schengen Member States to either stabilize the system rapidly or introduce greater flexibility into the rollout. This includes the possibility of delaying further increases in processing thresholds and allowing airports to rely more readily on fallback procedures during outages.

The situation highlights the operational fragility of large-scale biometric border systems when technical resilience and staffing capacity do not keep pace with policy timelines.

Sources: ACI EUROPE, The Local, Centre for Aviation

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By Cass Kennedy