British tourists heading to Europe this summer could face waits of up to six hours at passport control, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned. This comes amid growing strains on the European Union's new digital border system during peak periods.

The new Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational across the Schengen Area since April 10. However, only two months in, the system has produced long queues, missed flights and growing alarm across the travel industry. Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) said waits of up to three and a half hours have already been recorded during busy periods. Yet, there appears to be no end in sight, as the IATA's latest forecast for the peak summer period predicts this figure to almost double.

Research from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has warned that up to 41 million visitor arrivals and $45.4billion (£34billion) in spending could be lost if delays of three hours or more become commonplace.

The findings come from a May 2026 survey of 2,512 travellers from the UK, US, Canada and Australia. Approximately one-third said regular three-to-four-hour waits would make them much less likely to visit the Schengen Area, or stop them from visiting altogether. British travellers emerged as particularly impatient, with 39% of respondents saying that they would be much less likely to travel.

This comes as horror stories have emerged over the last few months about missed flights and long delays. In one incident, a Ryanair flight departing from France took off without 150 passengers due to long queues at border control. The flight, FR282, was headed from Toulouse to London Stansted on May 30 and one woman described the situation as "pure chaos". "You didn't join a queue, because there was no queue to join. There was just a scrummage of people," she told The Connexion.

Some airlines have attempted to avoid the chaos by changing their airport rules. Wizz Air has told British passengers to arrive three hours before their flights. Meanwhile, at the Port of Dover, French border authorities temporarily suspended some biometric checks in May after waits passed two hours during May half-term.

Current EU rules allow countries to temporarily ease some border checks during peak travel periods to help reduce queues. However, that flexibility is due to expire in September, and the EU's border agency, Frontex, has indicated there are currently no plans to extend it.

Travel industry groups are instead calling for operational improvements rather than any rollback of the new system. ABTA and Airlines UK, alongside counterparts in the US and Canada, have written to all Schengen member states, the European Commission and UK embassies, urging action ahead of the busiest travel periods.

Among their requests are better staffing levels at border crossings, wider use of e-gates, greater deployment of contingency measures where available and faster adoption of the Travel to Europe pre-registration app, which is only live in a couple of EU or Schengen countries, including Portugal and Sweden. The groups are also seeking an extension of the contingency period until at least the end of the IATA summer season in late October.

Industry bodies have also argued that separating travellers who have already registered from those who have not could help speed up processing times. While queues of more than an hour continue to be reported at some destinations during busy periods, ABTA said many holidaymakers are still travelling with little or no disruption.