A European Commission official has said further flexibility is coming for the EU Entry/Exit System. Maja Bakran Marcich, deputy director-general for mobility and transport, put it at Skift’s Transatlantic Summit in Dublin on 15 October 2026. “There will be some further flexibility,” she said.
The remark came a month after the power that let member states skip the biometric step expired, and days after Europe’s airports and airlines asked for it back. Skift records the expiry date as 7 September 2026.
The ask
ACI EUROPE and Airlines for Europe published a six-point plan on 12 October 2026. The plan asks the Commission and member states to restore the partial suspension of the EES as a permanent option. The two bodies record waits reaching up to five hours at peak traffic times in the most extreme cases. Waits still routinely exceed two hours.
Olivier Jankovec, ACI EUROPE director general, and Ourania Georgoutsakou, Airlines for Europe managing director, said the system has strengthened the security of Europe’s external borders. They said it is not delivering on efficient border crossings six months into the full rollout. Their statement read: “This is no longer a teething problem.”
Skift records that Ryanair, the International Air Transport Association, ACI EUROPE and nine governments had pressed Brussels to keep the suspension option.
The system stays
Bakran Marcich said the system itself remains in place. “These queues are here to stay,” she said. She said some member states had not delivered adequate logistics, that some airports are physically constrained, and she cited Brussels Airport. She said pre-registration apps exist in some countries and not in others.
The Commission states the system registers a traveller’s name, travel document data, fingerprints and captured facial images, and the date and place of entry and exit. It also records refusals of entry. The Commission states the system became fully operational on 10 April 2026 and replaced the stamping of passports.
Why hoteliers are watching
Hotels with international arrival business sit downstream of the border. A non-EU guest registers fingerprints and a facial scan at the point of entry. The wait falls on the airport side of the journey.
What comes next
The Commission is due to adopt its tourism strategy on 4 November 2026. Bakran Marcich said it will include a proposal on cross-border car rentals. One-way international drop-off fees can push costs to five times or more the price of a domestic rental, she said. The strategy sits alongside the Passenger Package, which would require rail operators to share booking and timetable data.