EU airports face record queues as airlines warn of summer travel chaos over biometric checks, with Brussels and other hubs already reporting seven-hour waits at passport control. On Friday, 03.07.2026, Ryanair and other carriers urged the European Commission to suspend the new Entry/Exit System (EES) rules immediately, warning that fingerprint and facial recognition checks are pushing airports to breaking point just as the peak summer season begins.

The crisis has already materialised. At Brussels Airport, passengers reported waiting up to seven hours to clear border control on Wednesday, according to the European Travel Groups coalition. Ryanair separately named Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle, and Lisbon as the worst-hit hubs, where queues have forced airlines to cancel or delay flights.

Airlines argue the EES, which requires systematic biometric checks for non-EU travellers, was implemented without adequate infrastructure or staffing. “The system is collapsing under its own weight,” said a Ryanair spokesperson quoted in *The Guardian* on 02.07.2026. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airlines for Europe (A4E) have now joined the call for a full suspension of EES for the summer, a demand the European Commission has agreed to discuss in an emergency meeting scheduled for next week.

Meanwhile, Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is attempting to offset some of the pressure by launching a new direct route to Montréal, offering passengers an alternative to congested Schengen hubs. The seasonal service, which began on 03.07.2026, is seen as a partial response to political demands for more long-haul connections at Germany’s capital airport.

Across Europe, transport authorities are bracing for further disruption. In Vienna, organisers of the Donauinselfest festival on 03.07.2026 implemented contingency plans to manage metro departures as 100,000 attendees streamed out, highlighting the strain on urban transport systems during peak events. In contrast, Istanbul Airport’s metro system drew praise from a British tourist, who described it as “exceptionally clean and luxurious,” underscoring the disparity in infrastructure quality between European and non-European hubs.

With the EU’s digital euro project also facing scrutiny over plans to link ID systems to financial transactions, the bloc’s summer travel crisis risks becoming part of a broader debate about technological overreach and public trust.

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