Travellers passing through Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly on Saturday, 15 November, faced scenes reminiscent of pre-automated passport control after a nationwide computer failure disabled border-police systems for several hours. Paris Aéroport warned of “extended waiting times” as electronic e-gates shut down and officers reverted to manual checks. Photos shared on social media showed queues stretching hundreds of metres; some families sat on the floor as frustration mounted.
According to the Interior Ministry, the glitch was resolved by mid-afternoon, but not before processing times reportedly exceeded two hours for some arrivals from Martinique and the United States. Border-police reinforcements and bottled-water distributions helped ease tensions, but tour operators said missed connections triggered a cascade of rebookings for onward flights and TGV services.
![Border-control IT outage snarls passenger flows at Paris-CDG and Orly]()
The incident is the third major systems failure at French hubs this year and comes as the country prepares to expand biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) kiosks ahead of the 2026 tourist season. Aviation-security unions immediately renewed calls for greater redundancy and faster rollout of cloud-based backups.
For corporate travel managers the key takeaway is to build larger buffers into itineraries involving French gateways and to monitor airport operational alerts in real time. Travellers connecting to Schengen flights should be advised that manual passport stamping can add 30–60 minutes even after systems are restored.
ADP Group said it will conduct an internal audit and report findings to the Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) within ten days.
According to the Interior Ministry, the glitch was resolved by mid-afternoon, but not before processing times reportedly exceeded two hours for some arrivals from Martinique and the United States. Border-police reinforcements and bottled-water distributions helped ease tensions, but tour operators said missed connections triggered a cascade of rebookings for onward flights and TGV services.
The incident is the third major systems failure at French hubs this year and comes as the country prepares to expand biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) kiosks ahead of the 2026 tourist season. Aviation-security unions immediately renewed calls for greater redundancy and faster rollout of cloud-based backups.
For corporate travel managers the key takeaway is to build larger buffers into itineraries involving French gateways and to monitor airport operational alerts in real time. Travellers connecting to Schengen flights should be advised that manual passport stamping can add 30–60 minutes even after systems are restored.
ADP Group said it will conduct an internal audit and report findings to the Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) within ten days.
