With passenger volumes set to peak above 90,000 a day later this month, Brussels Airport announced on 6 July a package of measures designed to keep holiday traffic moving while Europe beds in its new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES). The airport and its partners are recruiting 500 temporary staff across security, ground handling and border police, and have reopened two additional passport-control lanes in Pier B for non-Schengen departures. A centre-piece of the plan is the installation of 60 self-service kiosks where third-country nationals can complete their first-time EES biometric enrolment—photo and four fingerprints—before reaching the booths. Airport management says trials show the kiosks can cut individual processing times from three minutes to under one. Airlines including Finnair, KLM and Transavia will also benefit from a new self-bag-drop zone and pop-up check-in counters to smooth the morning bank of flights to southern sun destinations. The move comes as trade bodies Airports Council International Europe and Airlines for Europe warn of “queue chaos” if airports are not fully equipped for EES.
![Brussels Airport hires 500 extra summer staff and installs 60 EES pre-registration kiosks]()
To make pre-departure planning simpler, travel managers can tap VisaHQ’s Belgium portal for real-time Schengen visa guidance, EES briefings and end-to-end application support, ensuring employees arrive at the airport with the right documents and one less thing to worry about.
Brussels Airport is positioning itself as a test case for how infrastructure upgrades and staffing boosts can mitigate risk. For corporate travel managers the message is twofold: advise non-EU travellers to arrive the recommended three hours before departure, but reassure employees that additional lanes and staff should keep peaks manageable. Companies rotating staff through Belgium for short-term assignments should factor the new kiosks into their mobility briefings and remind travellers that once registered they need only verify, rather than re-enrol, on subsequent trips. The airport’s summer plan will run until early September, after which passenger numbers fall back and the European Commission will review whether further EES derogations are needed.
To make pre-departure planning simpler, travel managers can tap VisaHQ’s Belgium portal for real-time Schengen visa guidance, EES briefings and end-to-end application support, ensuring employees arrive at the airport with the right documents and one less thing to worry about.
Brussels Airport is positioning itself as a test case for how infrastructure upgrades and staffing boosts can mitigate risk. For corporate travel managers the message is twofold: advise non-EU travellers to arrive the recommended three hours before departure, but reassure employees that additional lanes and staff should keep peaks manageable. Companies rotating staff through Belgium for short-term assignments should factor the new kiosks into their mobility briefings and remind travellers that once registered they need only verify, rather than re-enrol, on subsequent trips. The airport’s summer plan will run until early September, after which passenger numbers fall back and the European Commission will review whether further EES derogations are needed.
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