RENA – the Association of Airlines in Portugal and Ryanair are asking the European Union to continue allowing the temporary suspension of the border control system with biometric data collection at airports. Ryanair specifically asked the European Commission to extend the possibility of EES (Entry and Exit System) derogation, at least until April 2027, after the exception regime ended on Sunday. The airline argues that the removal of this flexibility threatens to worsen queues at border controls, after waits of two to three hours were recorded this summer at airports such as Lisbon, Krakow, Milan and Rome.
Neal McMahon, Ryanair's director of operations, stated that the EU's handling of the EES was a "disaster from start to finish," accusing Brussels of having ignored warnings from airlines, airports and border authorities about the system's lack of preparedness. Paulo Geisler, president of RENA, defended that there must be a balance between biometric data collection and the normal flow of passengers, emphasizing the need to preserve flexibility mechanisms.
The appeal follows similar warnings from major European aviation sector organizations. On 1 July, Airlines for Europe (A4E), the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warning of serious operational consequences and calling for the creation of a permanent mechanism for the temporary suspension of the EES.
Portugal also joined the pressure on Brussels in July. The Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, and his counterparts from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, expressing concern about the end of the possibility of partial suspension. The nine countries requested concrete written guarantees before 6 September, which did not happen. The EES came into operation on 10 April, replacing the manual stamping of passports with an electronic registration with the collection of fingerprints and facial images, applied to third-country citizens entering the Schengen area.
