The EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), designed to digitise border checks for non-EU travellers, is facing an emergency shutdown call from one of Europe’s largest airport operators after weeks of chaos at Schengen gateways. Marco Troncone, chief executive of Rome’s Aeroporti di Roma, warned on Sunday that the system’s “design flaw” is causing “disastrous” delays and urged the European Commission to suspend it indefinitely until the flaws are fixed.

Troncone told *The Times* that processing times at Rome Fiumicino have “doubled” since the EES rollout in April, with each passenger now taking up to two minutes to clear biometric checks. “We managed to optimise the process on our end, bringing this to 90 seconds [down from two minutes], but it is still too high,” he said. “This is, of course, not compatible with 50,000-60,000 passengers every day.” The airport has spent €12 million preparing for the system, which requires fingerprint scans and facial recognition for all non-EU arrivals, including British travellers.

The warning comes as airlines and airport associations across Europe report severe summer queues, with airports in Lanzarote, Tenerife South, Malaga, Porto, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Krakow, Paris CDG, Rome, Palma, Malta, Menorca, Milan Linate and Malpensa, Naples and Budapest singled out as worst affected. The EU has defended the system, noting it has already identified 7,000 individuals who overstayed their permitted Schengen visits since April. But Troncone dismissed the argument, insisting the problem is structural: “The problem is related to the way this process has been designed. It's not a matter of implementation.”

The criticism follows a weekend of travel chaos across Europe. In Greece, the country ranked among the top three in Europe for flight delays last week, with Athens control centre accounting for 9% of all EU en-route delays and Macedonia for 4%, according to Eurocontrol. Greece’s delays are up 63% compared to 2025, driven by capacity and staffing shortages, compounded by increased traffic due to Middle East tensions. France, meanwhile, remains the worst affected, with 29% of all EU en-route delays, though its figures are down 38% year-on-year.

The EES system’s rollout has been uneven across the 29 Schengen countries, with national governments responsible for different aspects of implementation and varying hardware and software providers. Some states attempted to connect their systems to the central EES platform, while others insisted on using their own hardware, creating interoperability issues. The European Commission has pledged “more support” for border checks following the airline warnings, but Troncone’s call for a shutdown suggests the crisis is deepening.

The controversy adds to a summer of travel disruptions in Europe. In Italy, Catania’s airport was temporarily closed on Sunday after the Etna volcano emitted ash plumes, forcing Ryanair flights to be diverted to Palermo. A Budapest-bound Ryanair flight was delayed by 10 hours due to the closure. In Berlin, night-time rail disruptions on the FEX line to BER airport and the RE5 to Rostock/Stralsund continued for a third consecutive night, with Deutsche Bahn warning passengers to expect further cancellations until Thursday.

As the EU prepares for its summer peak, the dual crises of border technology and air traffic control are testing the bloc’s capacity to manage free movement and economic activity. The Commission’s response will determine whether the EES becomes a model for digital border management or a cautionary tale of rushed implementation.

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