Major aviation industry representatives have requested that European Union officials temporarily halt implementation of a recently introduced biometric border verification system during the peak summer holiday season, citing operational difficulties and passenger disruptions.
Airports Council Europe, Airlines 4 Europe, and the International Air Transport Association jointly appealed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, warning that the system has created critical bottlenecks at terminals. The groups reported that passengers have experienced extended delays in queuing areas, with wait times reaching up to five hours during peak periods. Aircraft have been forced to depart with unfilled seats due to passengers remaining stuck in border control lines, while some travelers have been left behind entirely. The industry bodies characterized the situation as having reached an unsustainable level, with border authorities, airport staff, and airline operations all operating under significant pressure.
The new border system, which has been gradually introduced since last October, requires non-EU citizens to complete biometric registration including fingerprints and photographs upon arrival at their destination airports. Multiple countries have already taken unilateral action to address the bottlenecks, including Greece suspending biometric checks for British travelers through September, and French authorities temporarily halting additional screening at Dover. Officials overseeing Rome’s airports have also indicated the need to suspend the system for non-EU citizens to prevent summer disruption.
The aviation groups requested that the European Commission authorize airports to fully suspend checks whenever passenger volumes exceed border control facility capacity during July and August. They also proposed maintaining suspension flexibility beyond September under defined exceptional circumstances, citing concerns that excessive delays are discouraging international travelers and damaging Europe’s tourism competitiveness. European airports are projected to handle approximately 40 million more passengers during July and August compared to the preceding two months. The industry representatives stated that system reliability will require expanded staffing and more dependable automated processing kiosks before normal operations can resume.
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