Brussels Airport warned travellers of “exceptional waiting times” on the morning of 18 April after a Europe-wide technical failure knocked out automated passport eGates. The outage, traced to a software patch deployed overnight by the agency managing the new EU Entry/Exit System, forced federal police to switch to manual stamping for all third-country arrivals. Lines in Pier B stretched beyond 90 minutes at peak.
![eGate failure causes hour-long queues at Brussels Airport border control]()
For travellers who want to stay ahead of such disruptions, VisaHQ’s online portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) can help by pre-checking visa and entry requirements, arranging courier submission of documents, and issuing instant alerts when systems like the EES experience outages—offering a practical safety net for both individual passengers and corporate travel teams.
Similar disruptions were reported in Paris CDG, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid Barajas. Airport spokesperson Nathalie Piessens said additional officers were redeployed from the landside patrol unit, and mobile water stations were set up for passengers caught in the bottleneck. By noon, technicians had rolled back the update and reopened six of BRU’s 36 biometric gates, bringing waits under 30 minutes. The incident is a stark reminder that the Schengen-wide EES, fully live since 10 April, still faces teething problems. Airlines fear that even brief outages can ripple through afternoon bank departures, as crew duty-time limits trigger delays and missed connections. Brussels Airlines reported three cases of business-class passengers missing onward flights to West Africa. Corporate travel managers should build in longer ‘minimum connection times’ for non-EU staff transiting through Brussels, at least during the first months of EES operation. Companies relocating talent should also advise newcomers to carry printed copies of work or single-permit approvals in case manual officers request extra proof. The federal police union noted that staffing at immigration booths remains calibrated for pre-EES volumes and called on the government to accelerate recruitment ahead of the July tourist peak. Brussels Airport, for its part, said it will install ten additional eGates by September and publish live border-wait data on its website later this month.
For travellers who want to stay ahead of such disruptions, VisaHQ’s online portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) can help by pre-checking visa and entry requirements, arranging courier submission of documents, and issuing instant alerts when systems like the EES experience outages—offering a practical safety net for both individual passengers and corporate travel teams.
Similar disruptions were reported in Paris CDG, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid Barajas. Airport spokesperson Nathalie Piessens said additional officers were redeployed from the landside patrol unit, and mobile water stations were set up for passengers caught in the bottleneck. By noon, technicians had rolled back the update and reopened six of BRU’s 36 biometric gates, bringing waits under 30 minutes. The incident is a stark reminder that the Schengen-wide EES, fully live since 10 April, still faces teething problems. Airlines fear that even brief outages can ripple through afternoon bank departures, as crew duty-time limits trigger delays and missed connections. Brussels Airlines reported three cases of business-class passengers missing onward flights to West Africa. Corporate travel managers should build in longer ‘minimum connection times’ for non-EU staff transiting through Brussels, at least during the first months of EES operation. Companies relocating talent should also advise newcomers to carry printed copies of work or single-permit approvals in case manual officers request extra proof. The federal police union noted that staffing at immigration booths remains calibrated for pre-EES volumes and called on the government to accelerate recruitment ahead of the July tourist peak. Brussels Airport, for its part, said it will install ten additional eGates by September and publish live border-wait data on its website later this month.
