EU countries are scrambling to acquire equipment for the Entry-Exit System just as airports warn the biometric border checks could cause severe travel disruptions during peak summer season. The system, designed to process non-EU passengers with fingerprint and photo scanning, began rolling out last October but procurement delays persist across member states.

Technical failures have plagued installations, with fingerprint scanners malfunctioning from sweat and sitting idle for weeks awaiting software updates at French airports, Dover, and Eurostar terminals. Marco Troncone, head of Rome's airports, expressed grave concerns about summer readiness, while Olivier Jankovec of ACI Europe declared the system "fundamentally does not work." Some airports have abandoned biometric collection entirely.

Airlines including Ryanair have demanded suspension of what they call a "half-baked" system after passengers endured hour-long queues during holiday weekends. The operational strain has forced airports like Düsseldorf to repurpose baggage areas for additional queuing space, with passengers waiting up to 3.5 hours across 45 airports in 20 countries.

The European Commission maintains the system functions properly, citing 108 million entries recorded since October with 42,000 refusals. However, member states have resorted to suspending biometric checks to prevent overcrowding, revealing a gap between Brussels policy ambitions and ground-level implementation realities.