Airline lobby groups want full ESS pause for summer, EC agrees to meet

Europe’s aviation industry is struggling with the new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) so much that countries need the option to suspend it for the busy summer months, and then suspend it again whenever it becomes to burdensome, according to industry groups.

An open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from Airports Council International, co-signed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airlines for Europe (A4E) argues that since airports and airlines are not ready, the system must wait.  The Guardian reports the EC is planning a meeting with Member States and industry representatives next Tuesday in response.

EU Member States already have the option to suspend biometrics collection until September, which “has provided some relief,” the groups say. It has not, however, prevented waiting times for border control checks from reaching 5 hours in peak travel times.

Rather, the semi-implementation of the border control system “is creating severe operational consequences disrupting passengers and putting border authorities, airports and airlines under unsustainable pressure.”

Worse, write the groups, the EC does not recognize the part it has played in this massive operational snarl. Comments by an EC representative to the Financial Times that “most often long waiting times are not related to the operation of the EES but to pre-existing factors such as concentration of flights in specific slots” cannot be correct, they write, as “Flight schedules are known a year in advance and respond to passengers’ connectivity needs.”

Frontex has warned that these issues could last for two years, and individual airports have been sounding the alarm.

But the EES System was not implemented in a rush, as pilots began in mid-2019.

Asked about the problems reported with EES implementations on the sidelines of ID4Africa in May, Cognitec VP of Sales and Marketing Mikael Fagerlund told Biometric Update that while there is “no silver bullet” for what ails the system, mobile pre-enrollment can help significantly, along with quick biometric devices at the border and “remodification of the actual facilities” to improve passenger flow.

ACI and its co-signers take the position that Member States must be able to suspend all EES measures throughout July and August, at least. During that time, a “permanent operational flexibility mechanism” should be set up to allow authorities “to suspend EES procedures under clearly defined exceptional circumstances.”

That would give the industry time to put adequate staffing in place, ensure the stability of the central EES platform and the national interfaces that connect to it, complete the deployment so biometric self-service kiosks and automated border control gates and deploy “a pre-registration app.”

Sweden announced it would roll out the Travel to Europe biometric pre-registration app bult with technology from Inverid (since acquired by Signicat) and iProov a year ago. Portugal became the second just months ago.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has also endorsed the letter from ACI, IATA and A4E, calling for accelerated adoption of the Travel to Europe app, a communication campaign to prepare travellers for EES requirements and “full operational readiness at borders.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  border security  |  digital travel  |  Entry/Exit System (EES)  |  Europe  |  identity verification