Ryanair has issued a warning to passengers that seven major European airports are not prepared for the summer holiday travel period, citing disruptions caused by the EU's new Entry/Exit System (EES) passport control. The budget airline claims the system is not ready for the peak school holiday season, with airports such as Tenerife South, Palma, Alicante, Malaga, Milan Bergamo, Krakow and Paris Beauvais already experiencing major disruptions.
Ryanair criticises EES implementation
The carrier has criticised the EU's passport control system, contending that it isn't prepared for the end-of-term travel rush when millions of families will journey across Europe for summer getaways. Ryanair has urged European governments to delay the implementation of EES until September, once the peak travel season has concluded, to prevent passengers, many travelling with young children, from enduring lengthy and unnecessary passport control queues.
The airline's stance follows an open letter published online on Wednesday in which leading representative bodies for Europe's airports and airlines stated that disruptions caused by EES had reached a "critical point". "Passengers have already been forced to queue for extended periods outside terminal buildings and on exposed aprons because border control facilities cannot process arrivals quickly enough. Airlines face half-empty planes at gate closing time, while passengers are stuck in border control queues," the statement from industry groups ACI Europe, Airlines 4 Europe and the International Air Transport Association read.
Delays and missed flights reported
The organisation alleged that certain aircraft have been forced to postpone departure while awaiting passengers, and that queues are extending to as long as five hours during busy periods, reports the Mirror. Recently, The Mirror revealed that massive passport and security queues at Athens Airport resulted in passengers missing their Ryanair flight - without the EES gates even being operational.
Ryanair has cautioned passengers about the lengthening queues at passport control when travelling to non-Schengen destinations, and encouraged them to arrive at the airport earlier. Checks may involve scanning passports, providing fingerprints and having a facial image captured. Ryanair has asserted that the present infrastructure is "NOT ready to manage the high passenger volumes expected during peak season, due to insufficient staff, kiosks and system readiness."
Ryanair COO calls for delay
Ryanair's Chief Operations Officer, Neal McMahon, commented: "As schools break up and Europe enters the busiest travel period of the year, it is clear that EES is still not ready for peak summer volumes. Passengers and families should not be used as guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress at airports this summer. It is as simple as postponing EES until September, as other EU countries like Greece have already done. Ryanair calls on European Govts once again to delay the implementation to protect passengers, families and airport operations during the school holiday rush, instead of forcing holidaymakers to endure needless passport control chaos."
