The chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma has told the Financial Times that the EU's new Entry-Exit System is "incompatible" with peak summer volumes, and that suspending checks may be the only solution.The head of the company that manages Rome's two airports has warned that the European Union's new digital border control system risks causing major disruption this summer.Marco Troncone, chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma, which runs Fiumicino and Ciampino, told the Financial Times on Thursday that the capital's airports could be forced to suspend the biometric checks required by the EU's new Entry-Exit System (EES) during the summer peak to avoid chaos. Troncone said he was "very worried about the summer" and that the process had proved "incompatible with the peak volumes we will have to face", adding that the only solution was to relieve the pressure, as there was no way to complete 100 per cent of registrations. On a scale of one to ten, Troncone placed his level of concern at eight or nine, warning that bypassing the EES for the time being was the only way to avoid "a disaster". What is the EES? The EES is the EU's automated digital border management system, designed to replace the manual stamping of passports for non-EU visitors crossing the external borders of the Schengen Area.   It applies to nationals from non-EU countries, including the UK, who cross external Schengen borders for a short stay, whether or not they require a visa. The system requires the registration of fingerprints and facial images and is designed to combat identity fraud and automatically calculate how many days visa-free travellers have spent in the Schengen area, flagging those who exceed the 90-day limit. At their first entry, visitors must register at dedicated electronic kiosks, which capture passport data along with four fingerprint scans and a facial photograph. This data is stored for three years, meaning repeat visitors do not need to re-register in full each time. The system also automatically calculates exact days of stay and flags "overstay" status to authorities immediately. EES in Italy EES was phased in at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa from October 2025 before being rolled out nationally, and became fully operational in April 2026. However, problems have emerged since launch. Technical failures have been reported at multiple airports, with some passengers required to repeat the registration procedure despite having already entered the EU previously. The concerns from Rome's airport operator are part of a wider alarm across the European aviation industry. Oliver Jankovec, head of Airports Council International Europe, warned that the self-service terminal kiosks were currently not functioning as intended, and that during the summer months queues could stretch to over six hours as a result of the new border filtering system. He also noted that some airports, without having received official approval from Brussels, had already begun loosening the checks informally. A spokesperson for the European Commission, however, has maintained that the EES is fully operational and "works well" across all Schengen countries, and that long waiting times are frequently attributable to "pre-existing factors" such as staffing shortages, infrastructure constraints, and the concentration of flights within specific time slots, rather than to the functioning of the EES itself.

The head of the company that manages Rome's two airports has warned that the European Union's new digital border control system risks causing major disruption this summer. Marco Troncone, chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma, which runs Fiumicino and Ciampino, told the  on Thursday that the capital's airports could be forced to suspend the biometric checks required by the EU's new  during the summer peak to avoid chaos. Troncone said he was "very worried about the summer" and that the process had proved "incompatible with the peak volumes we will have to face", adding that the only solution was to relieve the pressure, as there was no way to complete 100 per cent of registrations. On a scale of one to ten, Troncone placed his level of concern at eight or nine, warning that bypassing the EES for the time being was the only way to avoid "a disaster". The EES is the EU's automated digital border management system, designed to replace the manual stamping of passports for non-EU visitors crossing the external borders of the Schengen Area.   It applies to nationals from non-EU countries, including the UK, who cross external Schengen borders for a short stay, whether or not they require a visa. The system requires the registration of fingerprints and facial images and is designed to combat identity fraud and automatically calculate how many days visa-free travellers have spent in the Schengen area, flagging those who exceed the 90-day limit. At their first entry, visitors must register at dedicated electronic kiosks, which capture passport data along with four fingerprint scans and a facial photograph. This data is stored for three years, meaning repeat visitors do not need to re-register in full each time. The system also automatically calculates exact days of stay and flags "overstay" status to authorities immediately. EES was phased in at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa from October 2025 before being rolled out nationally, and became fully operational in April 2026. However, problems have emerged since launch. Technical failures have been reported at multiple airports, with some passengers required to repeat the registration procedure despite having already entered the EU previously. The concerns from Rome's airport operator are part of a wider alarm across the European aviation industry. Oliver Jankovec, head of Airports Council International Europe, warned that the self-service terminal kiosks were currently not functioning as intended, and that during the summer months queues could stretch to over six hours as a result of the new border filtering system. He also noted that some airports, without having received official approval from Brussels, had already begun loosening the checks informally. A spokesperson for the European Commission, however, has maintained that the EES is fully operational and "works well" across all Schengen countries, and that long waiting times are frequently attributable to "pre-existing factors" such as staffing shortages, infrastructure constraints, and the concentration of flights within specific time slots, rather than to the functioning of the EES itself.