Yahoo Finance Blow for UK holidaymakers as dozens of EU airports unprepared for post-Brexit rules
Dozens of airports across Europe are unprepared for new post-Brexit fingerprinting rules scheduled to be introduced in months, threatening chaos for British tourists unless the timeline is delayed.
Senior industry figures have expressed alarm that many smaller airports across the EU have so far failed to install fingerprint technology that is set to be activated in October.
Under the so-called European Entry/Exit System (EES), all British nationals travelling to the EU will have to have their biometric data taken upon crossing the border for the first time.
The new system only applies to non-EU nationals and, prior to Brexit, almost all affected travellers would have been passing through major hub airports, usually in capital cities.
By contrast, British tourists often land in regional airports in holiday destinations across the continent that can be relatively empty much of the year. Airline bosses fear many of these smaller airports have not prepared for the new rules.
It raises the prospect of long delays for British tourists upon landing unless airports radically step up preparation work or the timeline is extended.
The airline industry’s global trade body has warned that “urgent and coordinated action” is needed if terminals are to be ready for the autumn. The setback has raised the prospect of the EES being delayed.
Mandatory fingerprinting had been scheduled to be activated on October 6. However, it has already been repeatedly delayed by technical and data privacy issues. The latest deadline was set to avoid disruption during this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Dover Port, which said its own preparations are well advanced, has decided to stop hiring staff for the project amid uncertainty over the timeline.
Tim Reardon, Dover’s head of EU exit, said: “We’re not expecting to get confirmation of the timetable until mid-August, which is one of the things that raises eyebrows.
“It doesn’t give us much time for hiring, but then we don’t want to commit funding and find that the whole thing is delayed for a year. Really we’re hoping it all goes ahead now, but the airports and road crossings have a tremendous amount of work to do.”
The EES is intended to track travellers from non-EU countries whose citizens do not require a visa each time they cross in and out of the bloc, replacing the scanning and stamping of passports that has been mandatory for most Britons since Brexit.
For passengers at Dover, and on outbound Eurostar trains and Eurotunnel vehicle shuttles, that means pre-departure biometric checks by French police stationed in the UK.
Dover is creating a registration zone in the ferry holding area where cars will queue for up to 90 minutes before their booked sailing. Photos and fingerprints will be captured there using a tablet device – yet the French technology that will run the system is still being “finessed and refined”, Mr Reardon said.
New recruits will be needed to hand the tablets to the occupants of cars and advise them on their use, as well as marshal coach passengers who will be screened separately.
For people flying to the EU, biometric checks will be made on landing.
With the EES due to be introduced in a “big bang” event that will see the new digital system completely replace the passport stamp, even a few straggler airports could cause chaos.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) last month identified the looming Oct 6 deadline as one of the biggest concerns for European airlines.
Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s regional head for Europe, said: “The industry is concerned there are critical unresolved items which will require urgent and coordinated action from both the EU and member states prior to its implementation.”
Mr Schvartzman called for a transition period during which measures can be taken to “alleviate the impact of EES” if queues get out of hand.
IATA also called for a support helpline to be established for airlines to assist travellers.
The European Commission, which has said all necessary preparations for the EES must be made before it is introduced, didn’t immediately respond to questions about potential delays.
At Dover, work on roads and infrastructure required for the EES is continuing, with the port’s obsolete Granville dock about to be filled in to create extra space for the scheme in time for next summer, when traffic levels will be much higher than over the winter.
