New Biometric Border System Causes Hours-Long Airport Queues in Europe for Non-EU Passengers

The European Union Entry/Exit System (EES) has caused sustained passport control disruption for non-EU travelers across European airports since its phased launch began in October 2025. The system replaces traditional passport stamps with mandatory biometric registration, requiring travelers from countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia to provide fingerprints, a facial image and a passport scan when crossing Schengen borders.

Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport has been the worst affected hub in Portugal. During the December 2025 holiday period, waiting times reportedly reached up to seven hours, prompting Portuguese authorities to suspend the system at the airport for three months starting in late December. In January 2026, 24 officers from the National Republican Guard were deployed to ease pressure at border checkpoints, and staff resorted to manual passport stamping after repeated failures of EES-linked gates.

The system became fully operational across the European Union on 10 April 2026. Within days, long queues returned. On 11 April, Portuguese police suspended biometric data collection at departures in Lisbon, Porto and Faro to prevent passengers from missing flights, while keeping biometric checks mandatory at arrivals. The targeted approach aimed to balance Schengen security requirements with airport operations.

The disruption extends well beyond Portugal. Brussels recorded queues of three and a half hours and more than 600 missed flights over a single four-day period. Spanish airports introduced contingency measures as waiting times reached three hours. Italian airports applied the biometric rules inconsistently between terminals. French e-gates that rely on facial recognition still cannot process UK or US passports.

Industry bodies have been sharply critical. ACI Europe reported that border processing times rose by around 70 percent because of the system inefficiencies. In a joint statement on 11 February 2026, ACI Europe, Airlines for Europe and IATA called for an immediate review, describing a disconnect between EU institutions that consider the system to be working well and the reality experienced by travelers.

Several technical shortcomings explain the chaos. The system suffers regular outages, persistent configuration problems and unavailable self-service kiosks. Facial recognition cameras struggle to capture children's faces, and fingerprint readers are calibrated for adults, forcing families into manual lanes. Procedures differ from one airport to another, with biometric checks applied unevenly.

After the 10 April full rollout, member states retained only limited flexibility. They may partially suspend EES operations for up to 90 days, with a possible 60-day extension, rather than switching the system off entirely. As of late May 2026, the situation remains active. Portugal continues to suspend biometrics at departures when congestion builds, and authorities warn that summer travel volumes could push waiting times even higher. The Lisbon arrivals area expansion is nearing completion, which officials hope will improve service in the coming weeks.

The EES was originally planned for 2020 but was delayed by roughly five years. Its troubled deployment has damaged the reputation of affected airports and continues to disrupt passenger flow at major European gateways heading into the 2026 peak travel season.