Travel industry leaders warn of huge delays at European airports because of the new Entry-Exit System (EES). This new biometric system registers fingerprints and photos of most foreign visitors, including many British travellers. Since its soft launch in October, travel firms say the rules are applied differently across countries. Airports Council International said queues can now last up to three hours in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe's director, said, "We’re routinely seeing, with only up to 35% of people coming into Schengen being registered, queues of up to two hours. It’s not sustainable and we fear it is only going to get worse." He warned that in July and August, queues could reach five hours, causing a "disastrous passenger experience and a safety hazard." The UK travel association Abta has urged the European Commission to tell border staff to use options to reduce delays, including relaxing or pausing the system when needed. Abta's CEO Mark Tanzer wrote to EU commissioner Magnus Brunner stating, "The ambition of a project like EES means it was never going to go completely smoothly... border authorities have it within their power to ease queues and deal with issues as they arise – but that doesn’t seem to be happening." The European Commission said contingency measures will last at least 90 days after April 10, when full registration starts. However, airports say they have not been told if the system pause will be extended. Lisbon airport recently faced seven-hour queues and paused EES temporarily. Many self-service kiosks for EES are not reliable and only Sweden allows pre-registration by app. Eurotunnel and Eurostar in the UK have prepared for EES but are still waiting for dates and software from French authorities to start full operations. The travel world hopes for a smoother summer as the system is fine-tuned.