With the EU’s biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) entering its final phase on 9 April, Europe’s airport and airline lobbies—ACI Europe and Airlines for Europe (A4E)—have issued an extraordinary joint appeal to Brussels for an ‘extended, flexible suspension’ of the rules throughout the summer peak. Their warning follows reports that border-control processing times have already risen by up to 70 % since 10 March, when French, German and Italian airports were required to register at least half of all third-country travellers biometrically. At Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle (CDG) and Orly, wait times now frequently exceed two hours at peak arrival banks, and isolated incidents have stretched to three hours.
![Airports & Airlines Urge Flexible Suspension of EU Entry/Exit System as French Hubs Face Three-Hour Queues]()
For travellers who may need to renew or obtain Schengen visas in anticipation of these longer queues, VisaHQ provides a fast, fully online application platform backed by expert advisors. Through its France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), companies and individual passengers can submit visa requests, track progress in real time and receive up-to-date guidance on biometric requirements, ensuring documentation is in order before they arrive at border-control kiosks.
According to ACI’s operational dashboard, the main pain points are a shortage of police aux frontières (PAF) officers, technical glitches in self-service kiosks and slow roll-out of automated e-gates compatible with EES photo and fingerprint capture. The transition period formally expires on 9 April. After that date, Member States will no longer be able to suspend the system outright, although a limited ‘partial suspension’ tool remains. ACI Europe Director-General Olivier Jankovec argues that those safeguards are “far from sufficient” to prevent widespread disruption during the Easter, summer and even Christmas peaks of 2026. Airlines warn of potential missed connections, crew-duty infringements and passenger compensation liabilities under EU261. For corporate travel programmes, the immediate advice is two-fold: build longer minimum-connect times into bookings that involve an external Schengen frontier (especially CDG T1/T2E), and brief travellers on kiosk procedures to avoid multiple attempts. Mobility managers should also audit posted-worker schedules: a two-hour immigration delay could push drivers over legal rest limits or breach A1 posting declarations. Longer term, firms may need to consider routing high-volume traffic through airports with more generous staffing models—Amsterdam, Vienna or Copenhagen—unless French authorities heed industry calls to keep the suspension option on standby until full automation stabilises.
For travellers who may need to renew or obtain Schengen visas in anticipation of these longer queues, VisaHQ provides a fast, fully online application platform backed by expert advisors. Through its France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/), companies and individual passengers can submit visa requests, track progress in real time and receive up-to-date guidance on biometric requirements, ensuring documentation is in order before they arrive at border-control kiosks.
According to ACI’s operational dashboard, the main pain points are a shortage of police aux frontières (PAF) officers, technical glitches in self-service kiosks and slow roll-out of automated e-gates compatible with EES photo and fingerprint capture. The transition period formally expires on 9 April. After that date, Member States will no longer be able to suspend the system outright, although a limited ‘partial suspension’ tool remains. ACI Europe Director-General Olivier Jankovec argues that those safeguards are “far from sufficient” to prevent widespread disruption during the Easter, summer and even Christmas peaks of 2026. Airlines warn of potential missed connections, crew-duty infringements and passenger compensation liabilities under EU261. For corporate travel programmes, the immediate advice is two-fold: build longer minimum-connect times into bookings that involve an external Schengen frontier (especially CDG T1/T2E), and brief travellers on kiosk procedures to avoid multiple attempts. Mobility managers should also audit posted-worker schedules: a two-hour immigration delay could push drivers over legal rest limits or breach A1 posting declarations. Longer term, firms may need to consider routing high-volume traffic through airports with more generous staffing models—Amsterdam, Vienna or Copenhagen—unless French authorities heed industry calls to keep the suspension option on standby until full automation stabilises.
