On Wednesday evening The Brussels Times revealed that airlines operating in Belgium and the national airports association had signed an open letter urging the European Commission to suspend the Entry/Exit System (EES) whenever queues exceed capacity this summer. The signatories cite reports of passengers waiting up to five hours at peak times and say the situation is ‘unbearable’ for staff and travellers alike. Brussels Airport, which expects more than 5 million passengers in July–August, has already installed sixty additional self-service kiosks and two extra manual control lanes, yet officials admit that even this may not prevent “interminable” lines if biometric enrolment remains mandatory. The federal police have promised maximum staffing, but unions warn they cannot fill every roster slot at current overtime limits.
![Belgian aviation sector joins EU-wide plea to pause new border system after five-hour queues]()
For individual travellers, one practical way to guard against extra stress at the border is to make sure every other piece of paperwork is flawless, and that’s where services like VisaHQ come in. Through its Belgian portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/), the firm offers step-by-step visa support, real-time requirement updates and fast document processing, giving passengers one less thing to worry about when biometric kiosks are backed up.
The open letter is notable for its Belgian signatories: Brussels Airport Company, Charleroi Brussels South, TUI fly Belgium and Air Belgium all endorsed the call alongside pan-European bodies A4E and ACI Europe. Their intervention piles pressure on Interior Minister Bernard Quintin, who must balance border-security obligations with economic interests; aviation contributed €6.1 billion to Belgian GDP last year. Legal experts say Article 14 of the EES regulation already allows temporary suspension if ‘unforeseen extraordinary circumstances’ threaten operations, but a blanket pause would be politically risky so soon after the €1.3 billion system went live. The Commission has promised a high-level meeting “in the coming days” and insists refusal rates have already fallen 15 % thanks to the new database—an argument border-police unions echo.
For individual travellers, one practical way to guard against extra stress at the border is to make sure every other piece of paperwork is flawless, and that’s where services like VisaHQ come in. Through its Belgian portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/), the firm offers step-by-step visa support, real-time requirement updates and fast document processing, giving passengers one less thing to worry about when biometric kiosks are backed up.
The open letter is notable for its Belgian signatories: Brussels Airport Company, Charleroi Brussels South, TUI fly Belgium and Air Belgium all endorsed the call alongside pan-European bodies A4E and ACI Europe. Their intervention piles pressure on Interior Minister Bernard Quintin, who must balance border-security obligations with economic interests; aviation contributed €6.1 billion to Belgian GDP last year. Legal experts say Article 14 of the EES regulation already allows temporary suspension if ‘unforeseen extraordinary circumstances’ threaten operations, but a blanket pause would be politically risky so soon after the €1.3 billion system went live. The Commission has promised a high-level meeting “in the coming days” and insists refusal rates have already fallen 15 % thanks to the new database—an argument border-police unions echo.
