Less than two months after the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) began biometric checks on third-country travellers, the Council of the European Union has instructed negotiators to draft a regulation for a voluntary “Digital Travel App.” The smartphone tool— to be built by EU IT-agency eu-LISA—will let passengers scan the chip in their e-passports at home, upload the data securely to border authorities and receive a QR code for faster processing at Schengen external frontiers. The initiative is part of the bloc’s wider push to digitise borders and dovetails with EES and the forthcoming ETIAS pre-travel authorisation system.
For Czechia the news is significant. Prague’s Václav Havel Airport (PRG) is handling record traffic— 6.8 million non-EU arrivals in the year to October—and its Terminal 1 has struggled with the manual capture of fingerprints and facial images required by EES. The Interior Ministry in Prague immediately signalled that the Czech Foreign Police want to join the first pilot, arguing that advance data submission will relieve pressure on front-line staff and cut queue times for long-haul flights from Abu Dhabi, Doha and Chicago.
![EU Gives Green Light to Digital Travel App; Czech Border Police Ready Early Pilot]()
Business-travel managers see a clear upside. “Anything that shaves a few minutes per passenger translates into real savings on aircraft turn-arounds,” said the corporate travel lead at a U.S. electronics firm that moves engineers between Prague and Silicon Valley every week. Airlines estimate that a 10-minute reduction in ground time can save up to €600 per rotation on wide-body services—cash that could be reinvested in additional Prague capacity or route launches.
Implementation, however, is at least 18 months away. The European Parliament must agree its own text and the final regulation will then need to be transposed, tested and connected to national systems. Czech authorities say they will use the intervening period to expand self-service EES kiosks and undertake a public-information campaign so travellers understand that first-time biometric enrolment will still be required until the app is fully integrated. Employers are advised to remind mobile staff that EES already automates 90/180-day calculations; overstays are now flagged automatically, exposing assignees to fines or entry bans that could derail projects.
In the medium term, the digital travel app could pave the way for “smart lanes” at Prague’s land borders with Austria and Poland—similar to e-gates used by EU citizens—creating a more seamless travel environment for multinational companies operating cross-border shuttle buses and cargo runs.
For Czechia the news is significant. Prague’s Václav Havel Airport (PRG) is handling record traffic— 6.8 million non-EU arrivals in the year to October—and its Terminal 1 has struggled with the manual capture of fingerprints and facial images required by EES. The Interior Ministry in Prague immediately signalled that the Czech Foreign Police want to join the first pilot, arguing that advance data submission will relieve pressure on front-line staff and cut queue times for long-haul flights from Abu Dhabi, Doha and Chicago.
Business-travel managers see a clear upside. “Anything that shaves a few minutes per passenger translates into real savings on aircraft turn-arounds,” said the corporate travel lead at a U.S. electronics firm that moves engineers between Prague and Silicon Valley every week. Airlines estimate that a 10-minute reduction in ground time can save up to €600 per rotation on wide-body services—cash that could be reinvested in additional Prague capacity or route launches.
Implementation, however, is at least 18 months away. The European Parliament must agree its own text and the final regulation will then need to be transposed, tested and connected to national systems. Czech authorities say they will use the intervening period to expand self-service EES kiosks and undertake a public-information campaign so travellers understand that first-time biometric enrolment will still be required until the app is fully integrated. Employers are advised to remind mobile staff that EES already automates 90/180-day calculations; overstays are now flagged automatically, exposing assignees to fines or entry bans that could derail projects.
In the medium term, the digital travel app could pave the way for “smart lanes” at Prague’s land borders with Austria and Poland—similar to e-gates used by EU citizens—creating a more seamless travel environment for multinational companies operating cross-border shuttle buses and cargo runs.
