Prague’s Václav Havel Airport and the Czech Ministry of the Interior have announced a new joint action plan to shorten wait-times for passengers arriving from outside the Schengen Area. The initiative comes less than two weeks before the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) becomes fully mandatory, a change that is already adding several minutes to every passport inspection. According to airport chairman Radomír Lašák, operational data show the biggest bottleneck occurs when travellers abandon registration at self-service kiosks. The airport has therefore re-routed passenger corridors, doubled the number of “Red-Team” floor-walkers who provide real-time assistance, and installed additional signage in six languages. Police officers have been reassigned from landside duties to the border booths, and a live dashboard now flags queues that exceed preset thresholds so extra staff can be deployed within minutes. The Interior Ministry is working with EU partners on a pre-registration option that would allow passengers to complete most of the biometric process before boarding. Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar said discussions are also under way with airlines to show instructional videos on board long-haul flights bound for Prague. In the medium term, Terminal 1 will gain an extra checkpoint and space for 18 more e-gates, part of a CZK 520 million upgrade scheduled through 2027. For business travellers the changes should translate into noticeably shorter connection times this autumn, when inter-Schengen transfers are expected to surge. Corporate travel managers are being advised to brief employees on the new EES steps and to encourage completion of kiosk registration in one attempt. Companies relocating staff to the Czech Republic should also note that the Interior Ministry plans to monitor average processing times and may adjust staffing formulas at other airports and land borders based on Prague’s pilot results. Although the measures are technical rather than legislative, they underline how the EES is reshaping border operations across Europe. Travellers who fail to complete kiosk steps correctly risk being sent to manual counters, so advance awareness will become part of routine travel compliance, much like ESTA for the United States.
Source: Prague Airport press release
