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The EU's new digital entry/exit system is experiencing "technical problems", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen admitted on Friday.
" We are working with member states so that the technical problems can be resolved ," von der Leyen said at a press conference in Cork, Ireland.
The EES system has been the subject of concern since its gradual rollout last year, but the problems have become more acute as air traffic increases during the peak summer travel season in Europe.
Airports and airlines have blamed the new border control system, which requires travelers from non-EU countries to register their biometric data, for hours-long queues, operational disruptions and missed connecting flights.
" There is still a lot of work to do to get these technical issues resolved together with the member states ," von der Leyen said.
The comments mark a change in tone from the Commission, which had downplayed the disruption associated with the EES.
"At most EU airports, this impact is indeed limited ," Markus Lammert, the Commission's spokesman for home affairs, said on Wednesday.
The commission said earlier this year that registering an entry or exit typically takes about 70 seconds. The aviation industry sees things very differently.
Since the EES became mandatory, "waiting times at border control have increased significantly, reaching up to five hours during peak traffic periods," airports lobby ACI Europe and airline groups IATA and Airlines for Europe wrote in an open letter to von der Leyen on Wednesday.
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