EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner has urged EU member states and airports to eliminate excessive border-control queues before the Christmas travel period, highlighting Brussels Airport in Zaventem. The call follows waits of up to five hours for non-EU passengers in September, with congestion threatening missed flights and connections as the Entry/Exit System (EES) adds biometric checks at Schengen borders.
Brunner defended the EES, which records fingerprints and facial images of non-EU nationals entering or leaving the Schengen area, arguing that member states approved the system and had sufficient time to prepare. The intervention places responsibility on national authorities and airports to ensure the system operates effectively, but does not establish a binding deadline or guarantee that queues will be eliminated by Christmas.
Brussels Airport is testing automated gates and pre-registration kiosks, training additional border officers and assessing infrastructure requirements. Belgium’s Interior Minister Bernard Quintin’s office maintains that all 12 arrivals-control positions were staffed, while the airport’s infrastructure can process only about 500–600 non-Schengen arrivals per hour. On busy mornings, nearly 3,500 passengers may arrive from outside the Schengen area between 06:00 and 10:00.
ACI EUROPE and Airlines for Europe have called for operational and regulatory changes, including the removal of duplicate checks, improved biometric processing, wider use of automated border controls and the option to suspend biometric registration during severe congestion. The industry bodies warned that persistent queues are placing pressure on passengers, airlines, airports and border-control staff across the Schengen area.