At a high-level meeting on Tuesday evening, the European Commission flatly ruled out a wholesale suspension of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) despite mounting complaints from airlines and airports about five-hour passport queues at major hubs—including Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. Commission spokespeople told the gathering that shutting down the biometric database is “technically impossible and unjustified”, stressing that 110 million border crossings have already been processed and more than 1,100 security alerts triggered since the system went live across Schengen on 10 April 2026. They argued that most bottlenecks are caused by insufficient e-gates and staffing at national checkpoints, not by the central platform itself.
![Brussels Rejects Airline Pleas to ‘Switch Off’ EU Entry/Exit System Ahead of Summer Rush]()
For travellers wondering how best to navigate the tightened procedures, VisaHQ can help. Via its dedicated Germany page the company provides real-time advice on Schengen visa requirements, biometric pre-enrolment options and expedited document processing—services that can be invaluable for corporates trying to keep itineraries on schedule amid EES-related queues.
To ease congestion, Brussels offered additional funding from the Border Management and Visa Instrument so Member States can buy more automated kiosks and urged airports to deploy the new ‘Travel to Europe’ pre-registration app developed by Frontex. Existing flexibility clauses—allowing officers to skip fingerprint collection when queues exceed 45 minutes—remain in place but will not be extended beyond September. For corporates moving assignees or executives, the message is clear: EES will stay. Travellers using German airports should therefore be briefed to arrive earlier and, where available, pre-enrol biometric data. Carriers that miss slot times because passengers are stuck in border queues could face knock-on delays throughout their networks. Companies may need to budget for premium-channel or VIP services to keep tight itineraries intact. German trade bodies welcomed the extra EU funding but warned that physical space for new kiosks at Frankfurt and Munich is limited. They called on the Federal Police to publish real-time queue data so businesses can plan onward rail connections more reliably.
For travellers wondering how best to navigate the tightened procedures, VisaHQ can help. Via its dedicated Germany page the company provides real-time advice on Schengen visa requirements, biometric pre-enrolment options and expedited document processing—services that can be invaluable for corporates trying to keep itineraries on schedule amid EES-related queues.
To ease congestion, Brussels offered additional funding from the Border Management and Visa Instrument so Member States can buy more automated kiosks and urged airports to deploy the new ‘Travel to Europe’ pre-registration app developed by Frontex. Existing flexibility clauses—allowing officers to skip fingerprint collection when queues exceed 45 minutes—remain in place but will not be extended beyond September. For corporates moving assignees or executives, the message is clear: EES will stay. Travellers using German airports should therefore be briefed to arrive earlier and, where available, pre-enrol biometric data. Carriers that miss slot times because passengers are stuck in border queues could face knock-on delays throughout their networks. Companies may need to budget for premium-channel or VIP services to keep tight itineraries intact. German trade bodies welcomed the extra EU funding but warned that physical space for new kiosks at Frankfurt and Munich is limited. They called on the Federal Police to publish real-time queue data so businesses can plan onward rail connections more reliably.
