Rome airports threaten to suspend new EU passport system to avoid summer ‘disaster’

Rome’s airports will have to suspend the EU’s new digital border system for non-EU citizens to avoid a “disaster” during the peak tourism summer months, according to the head of the airports company. Marco Troncone said that allowing passengers to skip the biometric entry-exit system (EES) was the only way of avoiding travel chaos over the summer amid warnings from other European airport officials. Non-EU citizens, including Britons, must have their fingerprints and facial images taken the first time they enter the EU, under a new scheme designed to control the bloc’s borders. The system was first introduced last October and fully rolled out in mid-April after delays. EES has been delayed by faulty technology, leading to long queues for passengers even before the peak summer travel period, with some people missing flights. “We are very worried for the summer,” Troncone, the chief executive of Aeroporti di Roma, which operates Fiumicino and the smaller Ciampino airport, told the Financial Times. On a scale of one to 10, Troncone said his concern was now “eight or nine”. He added: “The process proves to be incompatible with the peak volumes that we are going to face. So the only way is to open up the valve. There is no way that we can deliver 100% of the enrolment.” British travellers have faced huge delays in some countries and French police temporarily suspended the extra checks at the port of Dover in May. …