Christmas travel rush exposes EU Entry/Exit System bottlenecks at Helsinki-Vantaa

The first festive season since Finland went live with the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) is straining border-control capacity at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. An Airports Council International snapshot shows processing times for visa-exempt third-country nationals have ballooned by up to 70 % compared with 2024. Peak waits of 55 minutes were logged on 18 December for UK and US passengers who had to enrol fingerprints and facial images at self-service kiosks before seeing a guard.

Finavia installed 36 kiosks ahead of the EES launch in October 2025, but software glitches and a shortage of trained officers mean as many as a third are offline during peaks, forcing queues to snake into the departures hall. The Border Guard insists the issues are “teething problems” and says a software patch and extra staffing should cut average waits below 25 minutes by mid-January.



Business travellers are feeling the pain. Several Helsinki-based multinationals have issued travel advisories urging staff to arrive at least three hours before departure. Travel-management companies report a spike in requests for VIP fast-track services that bypass the kiosks.

The episode underscores the operational challenges of the EU’s push toward biometric external borders. With the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) set to become mandatory later in 2026, stakeholders warn that further disruption is likely unless staffing and kiosk reliability improve quickly.

Finland, which prides itself on seamless travel tech, is under pressure to demonstrate that the EES can work smoothly before it pilots the EU’s Digital Travel Application in 2026.