Christmas week got off to a chaotic start at Václav Havel Airport Prague when the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) froze for almost two hours during the morning rush of 19 December. The shutdown forced Czech Foreign Police officers to capture fingerprints and facial images by hand, stretching the usual 30- to 40-minute passport-control process to as long as three hours for some non-EU travellers. Two long-haul flights—Etihad’s Abu Dhabi service and Korean Air’s Seoul departure—were delayed to protect missed connections, while dozens of short-haul flights left with empty seats as transit passengers failed to re-clear security in time.
Airport management blamed a faulty overnight software patch delivered by the EU contractor and said it will hire 60 temporary “border assistants” and install 20 additional self-service kiosks by mid-January. Airlines and Airports Council International warned that Prague—and other EU hubs running the same build—may have to “switch off” EES altogether if stability does not improve, citing crowd-control risks when queues back up into secure areas.
For corporate travel planners the incident is a wake-up call. Mobility managers are now advising staff to arrive at least three hours before departure, avoid tight connections through Prague or Vienna, and make sure passports have two blank pages for emergency stamping if the digital system fails again. Relocation teams bringing talent into Czechia in early 2026 are building extra buffer days into onboarding schedules and budgeting for hotel overnights in case of renewed congestion.
![Biometric EES Glitch Causes Three-Hour Passport Queues at Prague Airport]()
Whether you’re a business traveller, mobility manager or holidaymaker, VisaHQ can streamline the paperwork behind every Schengen trip. Its Czech Republic portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) offers real-time updates on entry rules, EES requirements and visa options, and can arrange courier pickup for passports that need manual stamping—helping travellers stay compliant even when airport systems falter.
The Interior Ministry insists the country remains on track for the EU-wide go-live of EES on 10 April 2026 but admits more hiccups are likely as passenger numbers peak for Christmas markets and returning expatriates. Companies with frequent Schengen travellers should remind employees that the biometric system automatically calculates each non-EU national’s remaining “90/180-day” allowance and flags overstays—errors that can now trigger on-the-spot fines or multi-year entry bans.
Prague Airport handled 14.8 million passengers in 2025; management hopes to break the 15-million mark next year. Whether that milestone is reached may depend on how quickly the EES platform stabilises—making this a key operational issue for global-mobility teams supporting assignments in Central Europe.
Airport management blamed a faulty overnight software patch delivered by the EU contractor and said it will hire 60 temporary “border assistants” and install 20 additional self-service kiosks by mid-January. Airlines and Airports Council International warned that Prague—and other EU hubs running the same build—may have to “switch off” EES altogether if stability does not improve, citing crowd-control risks when queues back up into secure areas.
For corporate travel planners the incident is a wake-up call. Mobility managers are now advising staff to arrive at least three hours before departure, avoid tight connections through Prague or Vienna, and make sure passports have two blank pages for emergency stamping if the digital system fails again. Relocation teams bringing talent into Czechia in early 2026 are building extra buffer days into onboarding schedules and budgeting for hotel overnights in case of renewed congestion.
Whether you’re a business traveller, mobility manager or holidaymaker, VisaHQ can streamline the paperwork behind every Schengen trip. Its Czech Republic portal (https://www.visahq.com/czech-republic/) offers real-time updates on entry rules, EES requirements and visa options, and can arrange courier pickup for passports that need manual stamping—helping travellers stay compliant even when airport systems falter.
The Interior Ministry insists the country remains on track for the EU-wide go-live of EES on 10 April 2026 but admits more hiccups are likely as passenger numbers peak for Christmas markets and returning expatriates. Companies with frequent Schengen travellers should remind employees that the biometric system automatically calculates each non-EU national’s remaining “90/180-day” allowance and flags overstays—errors that can now trigger on-the-spot fines or multi-year entry bans.
Prague Airport handled 14.8 million passengers in 2025; management hopes to break the 15-million mark next year. Whether that milestone is reached may depend on how quickly the EES platform stabilises—making this a key operational issue for global-mobility teams supporting assignments in Central Europe.
