Brussels Airport to Open Eight More Border Booths in December
The airport is expanding arrivals border control again to ease queues linked to the EU's Entry/Exit System, with six more e-gates planned for early 2027.
Brussels Airport is enlarging its arrivals border-control area to cut the long queues tied to the European Union's Entry/Exit System (EES). Eight more manual control positions are due to open in December 2026. That raises arrivals capacity by 66% and doubles the airport's manual capacity within 12 months.
Six more electronic gates are planned for early 2027. The airport says the new equipment will have to be fully staffed. It also lists other fixes it considers essential: letting more non-European passengers use e-gates, and building an effective registration app at EU level.
Why processing takes longer
EES was introduced at the end of 2025 and has been fully operational since April 2026. It replaces passport stamping for non-EU nationals on short stays in the Schengen Area with digital registration of travel-document details, entry and exit data, facial images and fingerprints. First-time registration has added friction at busy external borders, and some nationalities that used automated gates at Brussels can no longer do so.
According to the airport, processing an arriving visa passenger in the morning peak now takes two to three times longer than before EES. It had already added manual positions in 2025, 20% more at arrivals and 25% more at departures, ahead of passenger growth. The system's longer-than-expected processing times have used up that extra capacity, the airport says.
Queues over recent months
Travel Tomorrow reported waits of up to five hours in September, after technical problems and the loss of e-gate access pushed more passengers to staffed booths. The existing facilities can handle roughly 500 to 600 non-Schengen passengers an hour, while close to 3,500 could arrive between 6:00 and 10:00 on busy mornings.
Airports across Europe have reported waits of two to four hours as biometric enrolment grows. EU Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said earlier in October 2026 that member states had had enough time to prepare. He urged national authorities and airports to make the system reliable before the Christmas rush.
Brussels is also pushing for a pre-registration app and for the flexibility to suspend EES registrations at the busiest times.
Source: Travel Tomorrow