Prague Airport Responds to Long Queues at Passport Control

Long queues have been forming at Prague Airport since the introduction of the EES. The airport has now announced further measures to improve the situation and reduce waiting times.

Since the introduction of the European Entry/Exit System (EES), long queues have been forming at Prague Airport for passport checks on passengers arriving from countries outside the European Union and the Schengen Area. The airport management has now announced further measures to improve the situation and reduce waiting times.

At an extraordinary meeting on Friday, the Prague Airport Board of Directors discussed the current problems at immigration control. It agreed to continue looking for additional solutions and to regularly review measures already introduced.

Before the start of the summer, the airport had already adjusted its passenger-processing capacity to prevent large crowds from forming.

Foto: EES | European Union

However, problems with incomplete registrations continue to occur during electronic registration at the designated EES kiosks. Together with the Czech Foreign Police, an additional checkpoint is now being prepared as part of the border control process, which is intended to significantly increase the proportion of successful registrations.

The entire process between the EES kiosks and the actual border control is therefore also to be thoroughly examined and optimised. At EU level, work is also under way on a solution that would allow the required data to be recorded before arrival in Prague. Passengers are also to be informed about the procedure while still on board the aircraft.

The immediate security and operational measures planned include adjustments to the passenger corridors. According to the airport, it already has a heat map showing particularly critical arrival periods with high passenger volumes.

In addition, a specialised EES Assistance Team is to be deployed. If specified waiting times are exceeded, passengers waiting in queues will automatically be provided with water. Families with children and senior citizens will receive additional assistance in these situations.

“We do not want merely to manage the situation in the short term. Together with the Czech police, we want to organise the entire process in such a way that it operates reliably in the long term and that similar situations occur as rarely as possible. We will therefore continuously evaluate the individual measures and make further adjustments based on the results,” said Radomír Lašák, Chairman of the Prague Airport Board of Directors.

The Prague Airport Board of Directors also thanked airport employees and Czech police officers who have helped manage the exceptionally heavy passenger traffic in recent days.