Ryanair boss slams EU border checks as queues hit two hours

After peak passport lines at several of Europe’s largest airports doubled this summer, Ryanair‘s CEO unloaded on the European Union‘s new biometric border checks designed to make servicing inbound travellers easier.

«Only the Europeans would invent s**t like this,» Michael O’Leary told investors last month, criticising the Entry/Exit System as «misdesigned» and advocating for online registration.

According to the Financial Times, O’Leary stated that fifteen airports had experienced substantial lines at Ryanair. He previously voiced fears that travellers would be badly inconvenienced by the rollout and warned flights would not be held up to wait for those who get stuck at border control.

The Financial Times gained access to data from travel consultancy Qsensor showing peak wait times at Frankfurt Airport reaching 120 minutes in July, up from 60 minutes a year earlier, which is when his criticisms occurred. Additionally, the maximum wait time at Amsterdam Schiphol increased from 80 minutes to 120 minutes, while at Munich it increased from 31 to 60 minutes.

Maximum wait times for Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Screenshot: Qsensor

The Qsensor figures are based on passenger reports and publicly available information, and they show peak wait times rather than average queue lengths. The new checks for passengers from outside the EU are believed to be a contributing factor to the concentration of the increase in manual passport-control lanes at Munich Airport.

Tuesday is the busiest day at Munich. Image: Qsensor

Airport chaos caused by the EU Entry/Exit System

Many non-EU travellers are now required to register their fingerprints, a photo, and personal details upon their first entry to the Schengen Area as the Entry/Exit System (EES) became fully operational in April. Electronic tracking of entries, exits, and overstays will replace passport stamping.

For airports, the ability to temporarily halt processes like fingerprint collection during peak times has been granted to alleviate congestion. That flexibility, however, is set to end in September, despite requests from eight EU member states and Switzerland to extend the deadline as well as airlines.

While easyJet CEO Kenton Jarvis urged airports to utilise the available flexibility instead of leaving passengers waiting for hours, British Airways CEO Sean Doyle stated that the system has caused occasional «flashpoints» without substantially impacting BA overall.