Calls to suspend new EU border system as ‘half empty’ planes leave passengers behind

Nightmare border queues and planes departing half empty are prompting calls to suspend the new EU entry and exit system during the peak summer travel season.

The European Union fully implemented the new system in April, which requires travellers to register their passport information, scan their fingerprints, and have their photos taken.

Airlines and airports have shared their concerns in a letter to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, requesting an “immediate intervention before the situation deteriorates”, The Guardian reports.

“We have reached a critical point,” it read.

“Passengers have already been forced to queue for extended periods outside terminal buildings and on exposed aprons because border control facilities cannot process arrivals quickly enough.

“Airlines face half-empty planes at gate closing time, while passengers are stuck in border control queues.”

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ACI Europe, which represents airports, Airlines 4 Europe and the International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines, have called on the commission to allow airports to suspend the system during July and August “whenever passenger volumes exceed the operational capacity of border control facilities”.

The boss of Berlin Airport in Germany has warned passengers were having to queue for up to two hours due to the new system.

Aletta von Massenbach told the BBC the situation is “not bearable over the summer”.

Meanwhile, Ryanair’s chief operations officer, Neal McMahon, said: “Passengers and families should not be used as guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress at airports this summer.”

Earlier this week, Australian travellers were urged to bring food and water with them when waiting at line in European airports.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) warned the system is struggling to deal with the influx of travellers in Europe for the summer, and that travellers could face delays of four to six hours.

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Some airports unable to cope with the huge volume of passengers moving through arrivals had already reverted to the old system of simply stamping passports.

Greece scrapped the Entry and Exit System for British tourists to avoid disruption at the height of the summer holidays, with both Italy and Portugal likely to follow suit.