Airports admit hated EU border system is NOT working just weeks before summer holidays begin

The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) is "not working fine", the head of a European airport trading body has declared, just weeks before the summer holidays begin.

Stefan Schulte, the president of ACI Europe, said the EES, which requires passengers to register their biometric information when entering most European countries, was not up to par.

Mr Schulte said politicians needed to "stop pretending... that EES is working just fine. It is not".

He told an industry event in Prague: "Passengers are queueing for hours at peak traffic times and I just do not know how we will be able to cope in the coming weeks with the expected increase in traffic."

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The system requires passengers to register provide both fingerprints and face scans for travellers outside the European Economic Area, which is then checked as they cross the borders of the Schengen free travel zone.

Just last week, a Ryanair flight left without 50 passengers in Greece as flyers were stuck in a "mega-queue", which the Irish airline said was caused by border delays.

The airport itself said the congestion was caused by "additional processing requirements", with neither side directly blaming EES.

And in May, a Ryanair flight from Toulouse departed without 150 passengers as they faced a "scrummage" in border control.

Wizz Air had urged British tourists to arrive at European airports three hours before their flight home departs amid fears of lengthy queues.

Mr Schulte said: "We urgently need full flexibility for border control authorities to suspend the EES whenever needed to avoid further chaos - along with a rethink of those processes.

"This is about showing respect and decency for those who chose to travel to the EU, and safeguarding our reputation as a welcoming and efficient destination."

The European Commission has allowed EES to be suspended in some circumstances until September - through the busy summer holiday period.

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But the decision falls on individual Governments to suspend the system, not airports themselves.

Mr Schulte told the BBC this led to queues lengthening and expanding as decisions were being made.

He also warned that the summer peak lasts much longer than early September - with fears of a "complete collapse of the system".

Earlier this year, Greece said it would suspend the biometric requirements for British tourists.

But the Greek Foreign Ministry later claimed the exemption for Britons did not exist.

Buildup along Greece's land border with North Macedonia has faced huge delays after the implementation of EES.

Lorry drivers have warned the delays threatens "putting our economy at risk and the whole Balkans' economy at risk".

"We're not tourists, we're drivers, so we need to be treated differently than the tourists," one, Filip Stojanov, said.

Portugal and Italy also considered following in Greece's steps but the European Commission said no plan was in place.

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