ACI Europe Chief Warns of Summer Travel Chaos Due to EES Delays | GTP Headlines
ACI Europe President and Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte discusses the implementation of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) with Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport at the European. . .
ACI Europe President and Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte discusses the implementation of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) with Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission, during the ACI Europe Annual Congress in Prague. ACI EuropePresident and Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte on Tuesday warned that the EU’sEntry/Exit System (EES)is creating significant operational challenges for airports and could lead to major disruption during the busy summer travel season. Speaking at ACI Europe’s Annual Congress and General Assembly in Prague, Schulte called for greater flexibility for border control authorities to suspend EES procedures when necessary in order to avoid excessive queues and passenger delays. “Right now, EES is what keeps me and many other airport CEOs across Europe awake at night,” Schulte said while in discussion with Magda Kopczyńska, Director General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission. “Passengers are queueing for hours at peak traffic times and I just do not know how we will be able to cope in the coming weeks with the expected increase in traffic. ”Airports renew call for actionSchulte said EU authorities should acknowledge the operational difficulties airports are facing. “EU Home Affairs Commissioner Brunner and Home Affairs Ministers must stop pretending the situation is manageable and that the EES is working just fine. It is not,” he stressed, calling for the temporary suspension of EES processes whenever needed to maintain the smooth flow of passengers. “We urgently needfull flexibilityfor border control authorities to suspend the EES whenever needed to avoid further chaos – along with a rethink of those processes,” Schulte added. “This is about showing respect and decency for those who chose to travel to the EU, and safeguarding our reputation as a welcoming and efficient destination. ”Introduced in March 2026, the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) replaces passport stamping for non-EU travellers with a digital system that records border crossings and biometric information. The warning comes less than three months after the Entry/Exit System wasrolled out at Europe’s external borders. The biometric border management system records the entry and exit of non-EU nationals travelling to the Schengen Area and has facedcriticism from airports and airlinesover its impact on passenger processing times, particularly duringpeak travel periods. Earlier this month, theWorld Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)warned that EES-related border delays could put up to 41 million visitor arrivals and 45. 4 billion dollars in tourism spending at risk across the European Union. With summer travel demand continuing to rise, Schulte said airports remain concerned that current arrangements may not be sufficient to cope with growing passenger volumes, renewing calls for coordinated action to prevent further disruption at border control points across Europe. ACI Europe, the European region of Airports Council International (ACI), represents more than 600 airports in 55 countries that together handle over 95 percent of Europe’s commercial air traffic. FollowGTP Headlines on Google Newsto keep up to date with all the latest on tourism and travel in Greece.