European airport association ACI Europe is urging the European Commission and all 29 Schengen Area countries to address “mounting operational issues” with the Entry‑Exit System (EES), as the digital border control system continues its rollout.
The EES began its progressive implementation on 12 October, and is expected to be fully deployed by 10 April 2026.
Two months into the rollout, the system has already recorded more than 10 million entries and exits and is currently deployed at more than a quarter of all EU border crossings.
A spokesperson for EU internal affairs and migration minister Magnus Brunner, who is overseeing the initiative, said the EES implementation thus far has been "smooth and well-managed”, with “positive and encouraging” feedback from EU member states.
However, ACI Europe argues the rollout has been marred by “regular” system outages and “persistent” configuration problems, including the partial deployment or unavailability of self‑service kiosks for traveller registration and biometric data capture.
These issues have resulted in a 70 per cent increase in border control processing times, according to ACI Europe, with waiting times of up to three hours during peak traffic periods. Airports in France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal and Spain are “especially impacted”, the association said.
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec said “significant discomfort is already being inflicted upon travellers", and warned unsolved issues would create increased disruption as the EES rollout ramps up in 2026.
“Unless all the operational issues we are raising today are fully resolved within the coming weeks, increasing the registration threshold to 35 per cent [of border crossings] as of 9 January – as required by the EES implementation calendar – will inevitably result in much more severe congestion and systemic disruption for airports and airlines. This will possibly involve serious safety hazards,” he said.
ACI Europe also flagged the “continued unavailability” of automated border control gates for EES processing, “insufficient” deployment of border guards and "the unavailability of an effective pre‑registration app" as additional areas of concern.
Jankovec added: “We fully understand and support the importance of the EES and remain fully committed to its implementation. But the EES cannot be about mayhem for travellers and chaos at our airports.”
The EU spokesperson said deployment of the EES remains on schedule for full implementation by 10 April – but some teething issues are to be expected.
“We are aware that when implementing large-scale IT systems like the EES, there is never 100 per cent certainty that everything will work perfectly from the first day,” the spokesperson said. “But, based on the experience so far, we are optimistic and will continue to closely monitor the EES rollout and provide support to eu-LISA and all Member States as necessary.”