Airlines and Airports Ask EU to Allow Suspending Biometric Border Checks This Summer

Airlines and airports have asked the European Commission for the power to suspend the EU’s biometric Entry/Exit System during the July and August peak travel season, saying border queues are already running up to five hours and leaving flights departing half empty.

In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the airport group ACI Europe, the airline group Airlines 4 Europe, and the International Air Transport Association said, “We have reached a critical point.” The groups said passengers have “been forced to queue for extended periods outside terminal buildings and on exposed aprons because border control facilities cannot process arrivals quickly enough.” Some planes have already delayed takeoff waiting for passengers stuck in border queues, and others have departed without them, the groups said.

The Entry/Exit System, which requires non-EU citizens to register fingerprints and a photograph at their first point of entry to the Schengen area, has rolled out gradually since October and has already prompted several exceptions. Greece has suspended the checks for British travelers until September, French police temporarily suspended the extra checks at the port of Dover in May, and the company that runs Rome’s airports said last week it would need to suspend the system to avoid a breakdown over the summer.

The industry groups asked the commission to let airports “completely suspend” checks “whenever passenger volumes exceed the operational capacity of border control facilities” through July and August, and said that flexibility should continue past September, when the rules currently allowing some checks to be skipped are due to be phased out. European airports are expected to handle about 40 million more passengers in July and August than in the two months before, the letter said.

“Some international travellers are reconsidering trips to Europe because of the prospect of excessive border delays,” the groups said. “This is undermining Europe’s reputation, European tourism and connectivity, in particular.” The groups said the ability to suspend checks should remain in place until enough border staff are hired and automated kiosks become reliable enough to handle peak volumes.

The letter follows weeks of individual warnings, including from Rome’s airport operator, which said it might have to suspend the system for non-EU travelers this summer.

Sources: The Guardian

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By Ali Nassar-Smith