Wizz Air warns UK holidaymakers of three-hour airport queues due to EU biometric border checks
Wizz Air UK boss Yvonne Moynihan has advised British holidaymakers to arrive at European airports three hours before their return flights due to lengthy queues caused by the EU's Entry Exit System (EES), which requires biometric registration. Moynihan told the BBC the delays have caused some passengers to miss return or connecting flights, with long waits reported at hotspots including Spain, Portugal and France. ACI Europe, a trade body for airports, said its survey of 45 airports found queues of up to three and a half hours and warned the situation could become unmanageable as summer passenger volumes rise.
Wizz Air UK boss Yvonne Moynihan has advised British holidaymakers to arrive at European airports three hours before their return flights due to lengthy queues caused by the EU's biometric border checks, warning that delays have already caused some passengers to miss flights.
Moynihan told the BBC the long waits through passport control at some European airports had caused passengers to miss return or connecting flights. She said long queues were reported at "usual hotspots such as Spain, Portugal, France." The delays stem from the Entry Exit System (EES), which requires travellers from outside the EU to register fingerprints when entering and leaving many European countries.
Since October, almost 80 million entries and exits have been registered under EES, with 35,000 refusals of entry recorded. From 10 April, the system is meant to be fully in use at borders of the Schengen zone, including airports. However, Greece has effectively suspended biometric checks for British citizens to prevent summer disruption.
ACI Europe, a trade body for airports, said it surveyed 45 airports in 20 EU states earlier this week and found queues of up to three and a half hours due to EES. The group said the situation was expected "to deteriorate further" and "become unmanageable" as passenger volumes increase towards the summer peak. ACI Europe wants technical issues such as "instability of the central IT system and national interfaces" addressed, as well as border staffing levels.
Portugal, where very long waits have been reported, has announced 360 more border officers for airports in July. The European Commission told the BBC that until September it was allowing biometric registration to be suspended "at specific border crossing points and for a limited amount of time in cases of exceptional circumstances that lead to excessive waiting times." Moynihan said border officials were proactively suspending EES checks if long waits built up.
Despite the disruptions, Moynihan insisted passengers "should feel confident booking" and no cuts to Wizz Air's schedule were expected. She acknowledged improvements had been made after initial teething issues but thought the higher number of people travelling over summer would test the system, and called for more countries to suspend the checks over the peak period. The warning follows France's suspension of EU biometric border checks at Dover on 23 May after severe delays.