Ryanair issues warning for passengers travelling to 15 airports | Europe | Travel

July 28, 2026

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The airports are in popular holiday hotspots (Image: JackF via Getty Images)

Ryanair has issued a strongly-worded statement claiming that “UK families face hours of extra queues as EU EES chaos continues”, identifying 16 European airports where “passengers are experiencing significant delays”.

The budget carrier has called for an emergency extension and greater flexibility in implementing the Entry/Exit System (EES), cautioning that without intervention, families embarking on their summer getaways would come up against lengthy waits. These disruptions would impact passengers regardless of which airline they travelled with.

Passengers boarding Ryanair flight

Ryanair issued a warning over several destinations (Image: Mindaugas Dulinskas via Getty Images)

Its statement read: “Ryanair today [July 15] warned millions of UK families travelling to Europe this summer to prepare for lengthy passport queues and airport delays caused by the EU’s failed Entry/Exit System (EES), which continues to create disruption months after its introduction.

“With schools now breaking for summer and passenger volumes reaching peak levels, the failed EES rollout is going to cause unnecessary delays and long queues for UK families.”

It claimed: “Ryanair has identified a number of recurring EES hotspots where passengers are experiencing significant delays due to slow processing times and excessive passport control queues on both arrivals and departures.”

The statement proceeded to identify airports spanning both coastal and city break destinations. This included family-friendly holiday favourites such as Lanzarote, Tenerife South, Alicante, and Malaga, as well as destinations including Milan and Verona , reports the Mirror.

Ryanair went on to claim these airports were plagued by similar problems, stating: “Months after EES went live, many airports still do not have fully functioning self-service kiosks in place, while border staffing levels and infrastructure remain inadequate to process peak passenger volumes. The result is avoidable delays, longer queues and unnecessary stress for UK passengers travelling during the busiest holiday period of the year.”

Terminal of Tenerife South airport in Spain

Tenerife South was among the airports listed (Image: Getty)

The budget carrier offered guidance to families preparing to jet off on their holidays, adding they should “allow extra time” at the affected airports and be “prepared for extended waits at passport control”.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary warned on Simon Calder’s Telegraph podcast that the airline’s planes would not wait for passengers stuck in queues.

“Nothing,” answered Mr O’Leary when asked what Ryanair would do for passengers stuck in an EES queue. “We will not wait for anybody. “If you’re stuck at an entry place, our priority is for the passengers at the boarding gate when boarding starts. If you’re not at the boarding gate when we finish boarding, the plane is going without you.

“What rights do you have on that? You don’t have any, which is regrettable. But we are not delaying our flights for people who are stuck in passport control queues. They have to show up at the airport earlier, but they have to get to the boarding gate, or else they are not flying.”

Mr O’Leary added that there were 16 ‘blackspot’ airports in Europe which were having particular problems with EES. They included Lisbon, Madrid, and Athens.

It comes after the airline had released a statement warning of 15 airports where it anticipated significant delays. Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operations officer, said in a statement earlier this month: “Families heading away for a well-earned summer holiday should be thinking about suitcases, suncream and sangria, not standing in passport queues for hours. The reality is that the EES system isn’t working properly and families are paying the price for a system that does not work months after launch. Passengers should not be the testing ground for unfished border infrastructure.

“We support calls from EU Member States to urgently extend the EES flexibilities. This will give airports and border authorities the time to improve the infrastructure, fix the broken devices and hire more staff so that families can travel through Europe without disruption.”

Alicante Airport in Spain