French airports request EES rollout suspension this summer

Authorities representing France’s two largest airports have called for further rollout of the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) to be postponed until after peak tourist season. 

The Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group that manages both Paris Orly and Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airports said they risk ‘congestion’ if full rollout of the border security system takes place in April. 

The two airports are France’s largest by far in terms of passenger volume, welcoming 107 million passengers between them in 2025 – roughly one million below pre-Covid 19 records.

The request echoes comments made earlier this month by travel industry experts and other European airports, who warned that passengers may risk four-hour delays this summer due to EES.

European airports represenatives ACI Europe says wait times have already increased by up to 70% at airports where EES is fully implemented, prior to the start of peak season.

Full April rollout ‘extremely risky’ 

Under current plans, EES will be fully operational by April 10, 2026, with all non-EU visitors to the Schengen Area required to be processed through the digital system at all French Schengen border points. 

Following this, a grace period running until July 2026 will allow procedures to be partially suspended for up to six hours at a time if queues become excessively long – entry points will need to inform the EU of each suspension and the reasons behind it.

This may be extended until September if fewer than 80% of EES records taken prior to full rollout included full biometric data (fingerprints and facial images), the current EU regulations governing the rollout state.

ADP is calling for a general suspension of the full rollout during the peak period (roughly June-August) so it would not apply until the autumn. 

An earlier full rollout would be “extremely risky,” said ADP Deputy CEO Justine Coutard during a recent press conference on the airports’ annual figure, adding that EES trials at the airports had so far been “limited” without taking into account expected summer passenger numbers.

“So far, we have tested things, but really in a very limited way to verify that they worked,” Ms Coutard said.

“As soon as we see that there are excessive wait times, that it is not working well, we switch back [to manual procedures] so as not to cause any disruption to our systems,” she added, hinting that the airports’ systems had not yet faced the volume expected during the upcoming summer season.

“For airports and our European partners… who have deployed the EES on a larger scale, we see that it has still caused some rather significant difficulties.”

Airports including Amsterdam Schiphol and Frankfurt have seen wait times of two to three hours due to EES processing. In Lisbon, wait times briefly reached seven hours before measures were suspended.

“We remain very much in favour of a gradual approach… and to be frank, we would not be opposed to implementation being postponed until after the summer of 2026,” she added.

As France maintains its position as the world’s most visited country, airports are forecasting record summer passenger numbers.

Delaying the full launch until after summer would minimise the risk of delays, as well as allow for technological issues to be ironed out and for further training on EES procedure to be provided, the ADP said.

However, the current 'phased' rollout plan, which has been underway since October 2025, took much of last year to pass through the EU legislative process, and it may be difficult for the EU to agree to permit further flexibilty than that which is already allowed (eg. the six-hour suspensions, if required). Originally, starting immediately last October for all eligible passengers, at all Schengen borders, was the plan. 

The airports have already installed more than 300 self-service kiosks for passengers to pre-register their details before passing through security, with Charles-de-Gaulle ordering another 120.