Ryanair has called on European governments to suspend the EU’s new border checks after passengers faced long queues at several airports, with some British passport holders reportedly missing flights as a result.
The airline says the new Entry/Exit System, known as EES, has caused serious delays at passport control since its introduction. The system requires non-EU travellers, including British citizens, to register fingerprints and facial images at dedicated kiosks when entering or leaving the Schengen area.
There are growing concerns that the upcoming May bank holidays could bring further disruption, with airports expected to face increased passenger numbers during one of the busiest travel periods of the spring.
On Wednesday, Ryanair wrote to officials across the region calling for the EES scheme to be suspended throughout the summer. The airline said passengers were suffering from lengthy passport control queues and, in some cases, missing their flights.
In its letter, Europe’s largest airline said: “Passengers are suffering long passport control queues and in some cases missing their flights.” Ryanair added that it had written to governments across 29 EES countries urging them to suspend the system until September.
Tourism representatives have also backed the airline’s call, warning that the delays risk damaging the travel experience for visitors and harming destinations that rely heavily on international tourism.
Helder Martins, president of the Algarve Hoteliers Association, told ITV News that some visitors were waiting two or three hours after landing before being able to enter the region.
“Sometimes the clients wait two or three hours. This is impossible, because the flight took two hours and then they wait two hours to come into the Algarve,” he said. “This is terrible and this is something that kills all the promotion that we can do.”
Greece has already halted the system at its airports until the autumn, amid concerns over its impact on passenger flow during the peak summer season.
European airports have warned that EES checks could lead to waiting times of two to three hours, while some travel experts have predicted delays of up to four hours at the worst-affected airports.
Airports currently have the power to introduce temporary suspensions of EES when queues become unmanageable. However, Ryanair and other voices in the travel industry are now calling for the scheme to be suspended across Europe for the entire summer of 2026.
The airline argues that delaying the system until September would help prevent further disruption during the busiest months of the year, when millions of passengers are expected to travel through European airports.
