Austrian airports are bracing for what could be the toughest weekend since the pandemic after Europe’s airport association ACI Europe sounded the alarm about serious technical problems with the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES). Introduced on 12 October 2025, the EES replaces manual passport stamping for all non-EU travellers by capturing fingerprints and photos at the first Schengen border. While the concept is meant to strengthen security and track overstays, the rollout has been plagued by software crashes, kiosk shortages and slow biometric scanners.
At Vienna-Schwechat, Austria’s largest international gateway, border-police sources told local media that processing time for a third-country passenger has jumped from 30–40 seconds to well over a minute. On peak days this translates into queues that can snake back into the air-bridge, forcing airlines to delay boarding. The situation is expected to deteriorate further on 9 January when the EU raises the daily registration threshold from 20 % to 35 % of total passengers.
Airport operator Flughafen Wien AG says it has already doubled the number of staffed counters and redeployed mobile „Welcome Teams“ to help travellers download the still-buggy pre-registration app. However, with Christmas-to-New-Year traffic forecast at 230 000 passengers a day, officials admit that wait times of up to three hours at non-EU desks are “realistic” unless Brussels grants temporary flexibility, as demanded by ACI Europe.
![Vienna Airport warns of 3-hour queues as EU Entry/Exit System glitches worsen]()
For travellers eager to sidestep documentation headaches before even reaching the airport, VisaHQ offers a streamlined solution. Through its Austria-dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/austria/), the service keeps passengers up to date on EES rules, ETIAS requirements and any visa or residence-permit formalities, helping both individual flyers and corporate mobility teams reduce stress when navigating the new system.
Business-travel associations are urging companies to factor in longer connection times and to brief assignees on the new fingerprint requirement.
For mobility managers the immediate priority is traveller communication: third-country employees should arrive at least three hours before departure, carry hard-copies of onward tickets and, where possible, use airports within the Schengen area for transfers rather than external Schengen gateways such as Vienna. Looking ahead, Austrian airports plan to add more automated e-gates and biometric kiosks before the ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme goes live in 2026—yet both industry and government concede that stabilising today’s system must come first.
At Vienna-Schwechat, Austria’s largest international gateway, border-police sources told local media that processing time for a third-country passenger has jumped from 30–40 seconds to well over a minute. On peak days this translates into queues that can snake back into the air-bridge, forcing airlines to delay boarding. The situation is expected to deteriorate further on 9 January when the EU raises the daily registration threshold from 20 % to 35 % of total passengers.
Airport operator Flughafen Wien AG says it has already doubled the number of staffed counters and redeployed mobile „Welcome Teams“ to help travellers download the still-buggy pre-registration app. However, with Christmas-to-New-Year traffic forecast at 230 000 passengers a day, officials admit that wait times of up to three hours at non-EU desks are “realistic” unless Brussels grants temporary flexibility, as demanded by ACI Europe.
For travellers eager to sidestep documentation headaches before even reaching the airport, VisaHQ offers a streamlined solution. Through its Austria-dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/austria/), the service keeps passengers up to date on EES rules, ETIAS requirements and any visa or residence-permit formalities, helping both individual flyers and corporate mobility teams reduce stress when navigating the new system.
Business-travel associations are urging companies to factor in longer connection times and to brief assignees on the new fingerprint requirement.
For mobility managers the immediate priority is traveller communication: third-country employees should arrive at least three hours before departure, carry hard-copies of onward tickets and, where possible, use airports within the Schengen area for transfers rather than external Schengen gateways such as Vienna. Looking ahead, Austrian airports plan to add more automated e-gates and biometric kiosks before the ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme goes live in 2026—yet both industry and government concede that stabilising today’s system must come first.
