Ryanair warns of 'queue chaos' from new EU border system
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- Ryanair urged governments to postpone the EU's new Entry/Exit System until after summer, with COO Neal McMahon calling passengers "guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system" that risks "missed flights and unnecessary stress."
- Berlin Airport CEO Aletta von Massenbach said non-EU nationals were queuing up to two hours and called the situation "not bearable over the summer," blaming fragmented sub-systems across EU member states.
- Ryanair named major disruption at Tenerife South, Palma, Alicante, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Krakow and Paris Beauvais, while ACI Europe wrote to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen reporting waits of up to five hours at peak times and warning of "half-empty planes at gate closing time."
- Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister told MPs "time is rapidly running out" to fix 84 biometric kiosks sitting unused because French-side technology has not been activated.
- The European Commission said EES impact was "limited" in "most" EU airports and blamed member states for shortfalls in border guards and equipment; it plans to meet aviation-industry representatives next week.
- Airlines UK and Airlines for America called the rollout "inconsistent" and pressed Brussels and member states to "get serious about contingency measures," and Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy proposed pausing EES checks where systems are not ready.
Why it matters: Non-EU travellers booked through peak summer holiday airports — Palma, Malaga, Bergamo, Tenerife South — are already missing flights and absorbing costs insurance won't cover (Anne Robinson paid £250 for a replacement ticket from Rome), at a time when the European Commission characterises disruption as "limited" while airport operators document five-hour queues and Dover's kiosks stand unused.
