Brussels Airport will add eight staffed border-control posts for arriving passengers in December, raising the total to 20 and increasing stated arrival capacity by 66%, as the European Entry/Exit System (EES) continues to cause lengthy queues. Six additional automated border-control gates are scheduled to enter service in early 2027, supplementing the 12 already operating.
The EES requires covered non-EU nationals visiting the Schengen area for short stays to provide facial images and fingerprints at the border. Brussels Airport estimates that processing times for visa-required passengers during the morning arrival peak are now two to three times longer than before the system was introduced. Some non-European passengers waited as long as five hours in late September.
The airport had already expanded border-control capacity in 2025 and installed about 60 pre-registration kiosks, but technical problems have prevented the kiosks from being used as intended. Additional federal police officers are being trained to support border-control operations.
Brussels Airport is also seeking greater flexibility at European level, including the option to suspend biometric registration temporarily when queues become excessive. Current capacity is reported at roughly 500 to 600 non-Schengen passengers per hour, compared with potential morning arrivals of nearly 3,500 passengers between 06:00 and 10:00 on busy days.