Less than a month after France switched to the EU’s biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) on 10 April 2026, passenger bottlenecks are spreading from Paris-CDG to regional hubs such as Bordeaux, Marseille and Nantes. Travellers report waits of 60–120 minutes at peak periods, with some long-haul flights departing half-empty after passengers were trapped at border control, according to eyewitness accounts compiled by The Local on 5 May. EES replaces old-style passport stamping with fingerprint and facial capture for all third-country nationals. While the technology promises tighter monitoring of the 90/180-day Schengen stay rule, each first-time enrolment takes 45–90 seconds—multiplying processing time on aircraft where hundreds of non-EU passengers disembark at once. Airlines say French border police have not yet staffed enough kiosks or created dedicated lanes for residence-permit holders who are exempt from the biometric step. The European Commission has authorised member states to deactivate fingerprint capture temporarily when queues exceed safety thresholds, but France has so far limited this ‘flex’ mode to emergencies. Industry body Airlines for Europe warns that if the situation persists into the July-August peak, missed connections could spike, forcing carriers to re-book or compensate travellers and disrupting tightly-timed hub operations. Corporate travel managers should build larger connection buffers for trips through France, advise clients to pre-register where pilots schemes exist, and monitor further French guidance on queue-management derogations. Companies moving assignees into France should remind staff that long-stay residence cards still allow the use of EU/EEA lanes, potentially bypassing the slowest queues.
Source: The Local France
