Within hours of the new Entry/Exit System going live, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly, Lyon and Marseille reported queues of up to 90 minutes for non-EU arrivals. Business Traveller journalists on site saw some passengers miss onward connections despite arriving with the recommended three-hour buffer. The main pinch-point is the first-time enrolment process. While a single biometric capture takes less than two minutes, airports are seeing waves of long-haul flights arriving back-to-back. At CDG Terminal 2E four A380s and three Boeing 777s landed within 45 minutes on Friday morning, dumping nearly 3,000 EES-eligible passengers into the same hall. Airport operator Groupe ADP says it installed more than 2,300 kiosks nationwide but concedes that staffing and traveller learning curves will dictate throughput for several weeks. Airlines have already begun retiming some short-haul services to increase minimum connection windows, and travel management companies are urging corporate travellers to avoid tight self-connect itineraries through France until at least mid-May. The government insists the situation will stabilise once a critical mass of repeat visitors has completed their first registration. In the interim, mobility teams should inform staff that Fast-Track and PARAFE e-gates remain restricted to EU/EEA nationals and French residence-permit holders; premium-class tickets will not bypass EES enrolment.
Source: Business Traveller
