The waits are so long that the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been forced to issue an official warning with the UK half term now in full swing
There have been long waits at Copenhagen Airport (Image: Getty)
Brits heading to a popular EU destination have been warned about long delays.
Long queues at arrivals have been plaguing Copenhagen Airport in Denmark in recent days. The waits are so long that the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been forced to issue an official warning.
“Travellers flying into and out of Copenhagen Airport from non-Schengen destinations (including the UK) are experiencing long delays at passport control. Embassy staff are in discussion with the relevant authorities on managing this pressure. Passengers with accessibility requirements, who need assistance (e.g. with very young children) or who have tight flight connections should make themselves known to airport staff in yellow vests who are monitoring the queue. For travellers departing from Copenhagen to the UK and non-Schengen destinations, we recommend giving yourself extra time to allow for queues at passport control,” the comment released on Sunday reads.
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The long wait times come in the weeks after the EES border check system was fully implemented at Copenhagen Airport, after a partial rollout in October last year. The new system means that non-EU travellers arriving in the country from outside the Schengen Area, such as those with UK passports, will be fingerprinted at border control.
The scheme has been more than 12 years in development and has been delayed time and time again. Copenhagen Airport completed its rollout of the EU’s new Entry and Exit System (EES) last month.
The implementation of the EES system has caused issues across the whole of Europe, including in the UK. Long queues formed at Dover last week, before the new border checks were suspended amid concerns for drivers stuck in the sweltering bank holiday heat.
Holidaymakers faced hours-long waits on Friday at the Port of Dover and travellers on Saturday came up against similar disruption. In a bid to ease congestion, the French authorities suspended extra EU border checks under its EES, the port announced.
It also said anyone who has missed their ferry crossing because of queues can travel on the next available slot free of charge.
EES involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area, which consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU.
There have been delays at other European ports. Passengers in airports in countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece were waiting several hours at border checks, the Airports Council International (ACI) body said last month.
Olivier Jankovec, the director of the ACI European division, told the Financial Times: “This situation, in the coming weeks and certainly over the peak summer months, is going to be simply unmanageable. We are seeing those queueing times now, at peak times, when traffic is just starting to build up.”
Last week, the boss of budget carrier easyJet urged European member states to be more flexible and avoid long airport queues caused by EES.
He said: “We are in correspondence with all the European member states, encouraging them to use the flexibility they have already been given by the EC, because it is unacceptable if customers are made to wait in border queues because, frankly, they have had since 2017 to prepare.
“It is really inexcusable. They have got the means to avoid allowing the queues to overrun by opening up the passport desks. It is completely in the gift of the European member states to smooth this through.”