Airports Council International-Europe (ACI-EU) and Airlines for Europe (A4E) on 3 July sent an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warning that the new Entry/Exit System is already generating queues of up to five hours at peak times. The trade bodies want member states to exercise the flexibilities in Article 16 of the EES Regulation and defer full deployment until after the 2026 peak season—or even to summer 2027. Although Ireland is outside Schengen, the vast majority of long-haul itineraries from Dublin transit via continental hubs such as Amsterdam, Paris-CDG and Frankfurt. Dublin Airport estimates that 43 % of its connecting passengers will be subject to EES when travelling onward, raising the prospect of missed connections and compensation claims under EU261 if delays cascade. ACI-EU’s letter cites Berlin Brandenburg, Malaga and Lisbon as airports that have already seen bottlenecks during limited live trials. The group says airlines have redeployed staff to manage passenger flows, but terminal infrastructure—especially at older airports—cannot absorb the extra processing time without significant redesign. It calls for financial support from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility to fund e-gates, segregation zones and staff training. For Irish corporates, the stakes are high. Finance and tech firms that rely on same-day rotations to continental HQs could see productivity hit, while exporters shipping time-sensitive pharma or seafood products worry about crew-duty limits if pilots are delayed in outbound hubs. Travel-management companies are already recommending that Irish staff choose point-to-point flights where available, or use London Heathrow—currently exempt from EES—as a connecting alternative. The European Commission has acknowledged receipt of the letter and convened an extraordinary meeting for 7 July with interior and transport ministries. The Department of Transport in Dublin says it will ‘actively support’ measures that minimise disruption to Irish passengers, even though Ireland has no vote on the matter.
Source: The Connexion
