The EU has rejected the aviation industry’s call to suspend the rollout of new biometric border checks, after the controversial scheme sparked chaos at airports and land crossings across the bloc.

The so-called Entry-Exit System (EES), which came into force in April, requires non-EU citizens to have their fingerprints and faces scanned upon arrival in the passport-free Schengen area, which includes all 27 EU countries except Ireland and Cyprus, plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

However, technical glitches and the mismanaged deployment of the system have caused long queues at EU passport control points as well as numerous flight delays. This has led Europe’s airline and airport sectors to urge the European Commission to “completely suspend” EES until September and establish “permanent operational flexibility” for EU capitals to temporarily shelve the scheme thereafter.

However, a senior EU official said on Tuesday that a full suspension was neither necessary nor practical. “The system doesn’t work if you have a full suspension [at] one of the other entry or exit points”, as border authorities “constantly need to reconcile” people’s entries into and exits from the bloc, they said.

They added that the current system already allows member states to temporarily suspend biometric registration for renewable six-hour periods until September. Even during the summer period, this provides enough flexibility, which member states are already making use of, they said.

The remarks are unlikely to satisfy Europe’s airline and transport sector, whose representatives are set to meet with senior Commission officials in Brussels later this afternoon.

In an open letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week, the ACI Europe airports group, the A4E association of European airlines, and the International Air Transport Association said that EU capitals were already “making extensive use” of the current flexibility.

“While this measure has provided some relief, it has not prevented excessive queues for passengers nor preserved airport and airline operations,” they wrote.

Brussels has staunchly defended EES, which it estimates has registered around 110 million border crossings and 52 million travellers since entering into force in October. The system has also helped deny 44,000 people from entering the bloc illegally, according to the EU executive.

“It’s not perfect, but we continue seeing improvements at every level,” the EU official said, adding that Brussels will continue to “work very, very closely with industry”.

“It is very important also to get their [industry’s] support to continue to improve the overall system,” they said, adding that no member state has requested changes to the current system.

(ow)