Brussels Airport to Expand Border Control Capacity as EES E-Gates Face Delays

Brussels Airport will open eight additional staffed border-control positions in arrivals in December 2026, as the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) continues to slow checks for many non-Schengen passengers. The airport plans six more electronic gates in early 2027.

The eight booths will bring staffed arrivals positions to 20.

The six new e-gates will be added to the 12 already in place for Schengen travellers. The airport says they were ordered from the federal police in May 2026 and will increase automated arrival-gate capacity by 50%.

But new equipment will not shorten lines unless officers can staff it. The airport says it is working with authorities and partners to put the added facilities into service quickly.

Missed flights may leave passengers paying for a new ticket

Passengers arriving from outside the Schengen area faced waits of up to five hours at staffed border control between 21 and 27 September, the airport confirmed. Some arriving visa passengers now take two to three times longer to process during morning peaks than before EES.

A missed flight can leave travellers with a bill. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said passengers who miss a departure because of border delays are unlikely to have travel-insurance cover. Airlines are not obligated to offer another flight without an extra charge.

“The worst queues are usually at airports with lots of UK flights, so check if travellers have reported delays at your destination”

Boland’s advice is to check reports of delays at the airport you will use. Review your policy before travelling, too.

Check local delays and your policy before leaving

• Look for recent reports of border delays at your destination, particularly if you are flying from an airport with many UK routes.
• Check whether your travel insurance covers a missed flight caused by border-control queues.
• Keep in mind that the airline may charge for another flight if you miss your departure.

Morning arrivals still outnumber the available checks

The gap is sharpest during the morning rush. Current facilities can process roughly 500 to 600 non-Schengen passengers an hour, while close to 3,500 may arrive between 6:00 am and 10:00 am on busy mornings, according to the airport.

The airport increased manual positions by 20% at arrivals and 25% at departures in 2025, saying the growth exceeded passenger-traffic growth. Two additional federal police checkpoints also opened, one in arrivals and one in departures. Yet longer EES processing has absorbed much of that added capacity.

The airport says 60 kiosks let travellers enter some details in advance. Technical problems affecting government suppliers have held up a planned expansion of kiosk access. Automated arrivals processing remains restricted to certain nationalities and people already registered in the system.

Biometric checks and system faults add time at the desks

EES replaces passport stamping with digital records for non-EU nationals making short stays in the Schengen Area. The system captures travel-document details, entry and exit information, facial images and fingerprints. Some non-Schengen travellers who previously used automated gates must now join staffed queues.

The EU’s Travel to Europe app lets some people with biometric passports submit passport and biometric details ahead of time. It is available only in Sweden and Portugal. The airport says a broader, effective registration app and wider access to automated processing are needed to relieve pressure.

The system began phased checks in October 2025 and has operated fully since April 2026. From 10 April 2026, air, sea and international coach carriers also had to verify before departure whether a third-country national had used all entries allowed by their visa. The European Parliamentary Research Service says EES has processed over 52 million crossings.

The Commission’s Regulation (EU) 2025/1534 allows full or partial suspension in exceptional circumstances, including extended processing times or technical problems. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin’s office said the suspension of biometric collection during busy periods was no longer possible “since 6 September”.

Brunner wants queues resolved before Christmas

European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner said he wants long queues at European airports resolved before Christmas. He has said member states had time to prepare and urged national authorities and airports to make the system reliable before the holiday rush.

“Some Member States are lagging behind a little,” Brunner said. “We are facing a number of challenges, for example at Zaventem, but also in other Member States. They must do their job. They have agreed to the new system, and now it is up to the Member States to carry out their tasks”

He said he had “a great deal of confidence” the problems would be resolved before Christmas. In an April 29, 2026, response to MEPs Petra Steger (PfE) and Mary Khan (ESN), he described EES as “one of the most modern border management systems in the world contributing to the security of the EU and its citizens”. The Commission said it tracks rollout through daily statistics, technical coordination and support, while member states must file monthly reports on rollout plans and corrective measures.

Belgium has submitted an action plan to the Commission, Quintin’s office said. It added that federal police had staffed the 12 arrivals checkpoints for months and that dozens of officers were training to reinforce border-control teams. The office described the plan as a phased introduction intended to avoid further passenger waits.

Airlines and airports want changes to the rules and software

Airports Council International Europe and Airlines for Europe issued a six-point plan on 12 October 2026. The groups want duplicate checks removed, biometric procedures improved, duplicate traveller profiles prevented, the pre-registration app and web portal upgraded, automated controls accelerated and standardized, and temporary suspension of biometric registration restored during excessive waits.

ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec and A4E managing director Ourania Georgoutsakou said: “This is no longer a teething problem, nor can passengers, airports and airlines keep paying the price for avoidable disruption. The time for simply managing the symptoms is over. We need decisive action to fix the structural problems in the EES, streamline its processes and secure efficient border crossings”.

The groups said waits still reached five hours in extreme cases and routinely exceeded two hours, creating missed connections and pressure on airport staff. They identified inadequate staffing, unstable IT, limited kiosks and automated gates, and the app’s restricted functions as structural problems. The International Air Transport Association has called for temporary flexibility to return at least through the winter season, until systems, infrastructure and staffing are ready.

Most surveyed holidaymakers reported shorter waits

Abta’s Holiday Habits survey of more than 2,000 travellers found six percent said EES had made them significantly less likely to visit EU destinations. Among travellers heading to Europe, 46 percent had already used it. Of those, half waited less than 30 minutes and 87 percent experienced waits under one hour; eight in ten said checks had not caused wider problems for their journeys.

Luke Petherbridge, Abta’s public affairs director, said previous users generally had not faced major delays. He warned the EU must make the scheme stable and efficient before any stricter rollout, and ensure it does not deter travel. The new staffed positions are expected in December; Brunner has said he wants queues resolved before Christmas.