Ryanair warns EES border system risks summer 'queue chaos'
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- Ryanair warned of 'queue chaos' at airports including Tenerife South, Palma, Alicante, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Krakow, and Paris Beauvais, urging governments to postpone EES until after the summer holiday period; COO Neal McMahon said passengers 'should not be used as guinea pigs.'
- Berlin Airport CEO Aletta von Massenbach said non-EU nationals face queues of one to two hours at a terminal where Ryanair and Wizz Air operate, calling the situation 'not bearable over the summer' and noting that fragmented national sub-systems aren't supporting smooth processing.
- ACI Europe wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen claiming border control waits have reached up to five hours in peak traffic, warning that 'airlines face half-empty planes at gate closing time' as passengers are stuck in queues.
- Port of Dover CEO Doug Bannister told MPs that 84 new kiosks for recording fingerprints and photographs remain unused because French authorities have not activated the technology, warning 'time is rapidly running out' ahead of the summer peak.
- Airlines UK and Airlines for America said the EES rollout has been 'inconsistent' and called on the Commission and member states to 'take a pragmatic look at whether the current timeline is realistic.'
- Jet2 CEO Steve Heapy said the continued rollout was 'baffling' in cases where it 'has clearly not been implemented in a robust manner' and urged that EES checks be paused where systems aren't ready.
- A European Commission spokesman said the impact is 'limited' in 'most' EU airports but acknowledged that where problems exist, member states have not delivered sufficient border guards, infrastructure, or automated equipment.
Why it matters: With EES fully operational since April and the summer peak weeks away, the Commission is under simultaneous pressure from Ryanair, Jet2, Airlines UK, ACI Europe, and Berlin Airport to effectively suspend the system — yet Port of Dover's 84 French-operated kiosks remain non-functional and ACI Europe reports five-hour peak waits. The standoff puts the Commission in a bind: defend the timeline of a system meant to modernize border security, or grant delays that airlines argue would prevent widespread missed flights and financial losses for travelers like Anne Robinson, who paid £250 for a replacement flight after queueing 90 minutes in Rome.
