Four-hour passport queues persist at Brussels Airport, undermining Belgium’s business travel hub

Travellers arriving from outside the Schengen Area once again faced multi-hour waits at Brussels Airport (Zaventem) over the weekend, with social-media footage showing a serpentine queue stretching hundreds of metres. According to a 14 September report by Belgian outlet 21 News, non-EU passengers have on several occasions this year waited up to four hours to clear border checks. Airport officials blame a 21 percent shortfall in Federal Police staffing for the border posts, despite the installation of 12 additional manual booths and 61 self-service registration kiosks designed for the EU Entry/Exit System (EES). While EU-passport holders breeze through automated e-gates, third-country nationals must undergo manual fingerprinting and face-capture—procedures that cannot be performed without adequately trained officers. Lengthy queues are more than an inconvenience. Brussels hosts EU institutions, NATO and the headquarters of hundreds of international companies; delayed arrivals translate directly into missed meetings, extra hotel nights and reputational harm. In March, the airport said over 600 departing passengers missed flights during a four-day period because they were still in passport control. The Interior Ministry has promised to deploy 60 extra officers by year-end and is testing expanded e-gate eligibility for low-risk travellers from the United States, Canada and Japan. Industry groups such as AmCham Belgium, however, warn that business travellers may reroute through Amsterdam or Paris if reliability does not improve quickly. Until staffing catches up, corporate mobility managers should advise executives and assignees arriving at Zaventem to plan for possible delays, book flexible onward rail connections, and consider premium fast-track services where available.