Rome airports demand EU border system suspension to avoid summer disaster
The operator of Rome’s airports is calling for the suspension of the EU’s new biometric border checks, warning that the system is fundamentally flawed and threatens to cripple Europe’s crucial summer tourism season.
Aeroporti di Roma, operator of Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, says it must be allowed to suspend the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) for non-EU citizens to prevent a "disaster" this summer. Chief executive Marco Troncone said the biometric registration process is entirely incompatible with the passenger volumes expected in the coming months.
The EES requires non-EU travellers, including Britons, to provide fingerprints and facial images on their first entry into the bloc. Since its full rollout in mid-April, faulty technology has caused severe bottlenecks that have already resulted in passengers missing flights. The system frequently fails to recognise returning travellers who have already enrolled, forcing them to queue for checks a second time.
Europe’s travel sector is bracing for severe economic damage if gridlock spreads during the peak holiday months. The International Air Transport Association (Iata) warned that waiting times could reach six hours at major hubs this summer, building on waits of three-and-a-half hours already recorded during recent peaks. "Two months in, [the system] is producing long lines, missed flights, and growing alarm across the travel industry," Iata said last week.
The disruption is not confined to Italy. French police temporarily suspended the extra checks at the port of Dover in May, while Greece abandoned a pledge to exempt British tourists from the biometric requirements until September. These ad hoc interventions highlight a bloc-wide struggle to implement the border technology.
Troncone rated his concern for the summer at "eight or nine" out of ten, arguing that "the only way is to open up the valve. There is no way that we can deliver 100% of the enrolment." However, suspending the system is not a decision airports can make unilaterally. Stefan Schulte, president of airports trade body ACI Europe, said individual EU governments must step in and "stop pretending … that EES is working just fine. It is not."
The European Commission noted in early May that "built-in flexibility" allows for some functions to be suspended. Yet the long-term prognosis offers little comfort to the travel sector. Uku Särekanno, deputy executive director of EU border agency Frontex, told an industry event this month that the situation might not "stabilise" for another two years.
