Rome’s Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, which together handle more than 50 million passengers a year, may switch off the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) at the height of the summer rush. In an interview published on 25 June 2026, Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) chief executive Marco Troncone warned that biometric enrolment of every non-EU traveller could create passport–control queues of “two or three hours” unless relief valves are activated. EES became mandatory at all Schengen external borders on 10 April 2026, replacing manual passport stamping with the collection of facial images and four fingerprints for short-stay visitors. Border officers can already pause EES for up to six hours when queues exceed 45 minutes, but Troncone said Rome may need to use the waiver “frequently” between mid-July and the end of August. AdR is lobbying the Italian government for an emergency decree that would allow airports to revert to manual stamping for longer periods; Rome says no such nationwide measure is currently planned, leaving decisions to individual border posts. Airlines and travel-management companies are watching closely. Lengthy border delays would disrupt tight connection windows for premium long-haul services and could push carriers to rebalance schedules toward Milan Malpensa, which completed its EES enrolment area earlier and reports shorter processing times. Business-travel advisers are already urging clients to build an extra hour into itineraries through Rome and to ensure that connecting segments are on a single ticket so that missed flights can be re-protected.
![Rome’s Airports Consider Temporary Suspension of EU Entry/Exit System to Avoid Summer Meltdown]()
Travellers who want to stay ahead of these fast-moving entry rules can also tap VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/italy/), which tracks EES, ETIAS and traditional visa requirements in real time and offers step-by-step assistance with documentation for Italy and the wider Schengen zone, helping avert last-minute surprises at the border.
If Rome partially suspends EES, passengers will still have their documents scanned but will not have to submit biometrics. Schengen states must report each suspension to Brussels and cannot apply the waiver after 30 September 2026, when EES will become strictly compulsory ahead of the ETIAS travel-authorisation launch in October. For multinational employers, the episode is an early reminder that the transition to fully digital borders will not be seamless and that mobility policies should allow contingency time and budget for potential bottlenecks.
Travellers who want to stay ahead of these fast-moving entry rules can also tap VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/italy/), which tracks EES, ETIAS and traditional visa requirements in real time and offers step-by-step assistance with documentation for Italy and the wider Schengen zone, helping avert last-minute surprises at the border.
If Rome partially suspends EES, passengers will still have their documents scanned but will not have to submit biometrics. Schengen states must report each suspension to Brussels and cannot apply the waiver after 30 September 2026, when EES will become strictly compulsory ahead of the ETIAS travel-authorisation launch in October. For multinational employers, the episode is an early reminder that the transition to fully digital borders will not be seamless and that mobility policies should allow contingency time and budget for potential bottlenecks.
