EU Border System Nearly Triples Passport-Control Times for UK Travellers, Airport Boss Says

Rome’s Fiumicino airport chief aviation officer Ivan Bassato said the EU’s new Entry Exit System has nearly tripled the time it takes UK nationals to get through passport control, from seven minutes to 20 minutes, even after improvements, according to BBC. He said the system is “absolutely not okay” with waits of one or two hours and needs urgent fixes. Bassato added that the airport has found large volumes of passengers using self-service kiosks impractical despite their €12m cost, and wants duplication removed from the process. BBC reported that Ryanair has warned UK passengers travelling to Europe this summer to allow extra time for their journeys and prepare for extended waits at passport control. Portugal’s Faro border police also said the technology has bugs, with some ten-minute queues taking more than 30 minutes, although they said long waits were rare and should ease quickly.