New EU border system triggers delays at airport: 'It's a mess'

Passengers flying in and out of Malta are being hit with immigration delays of more than 40 minutes due to the EU’s new entry/exit system, raising fears of even worse disruption during the summer rush.

Some travellers came close to missing their flights after long waits at police border control, aviation sources told Times of Malta, as frustration mounts over the rollout of new checks for non-EU travellers.

At least one travel agent has formally complained to the government over the matter.

The automated system, which is administered by the police, requires all non-EU travellers to register at the border by scanning their passport, taking fingerprints and having their photograph taken.

The system is meant to curb the misuse of visa-free travel, detect the use of false identities and stop irregular migration by using biometric data to track overstays.

But industry sources said the implementation of the system, which is the responsibility of the police, is causing problems.

“It’s a mess, frankly,” one aviation source said. “Malta has had ages to prepare for these changes, and now we are heading straight into the busy summer season with the real risk of bottlenecks and queues.”

'Airport experience shapes visitors' first impression'

They added that the airport experience shapes visitors’ first and last impression of Malta. “If the airport feels like a disorganised mess, that’s going to frame the entire visit, regardless of how good the holiday was,” the source said.

A record 10 million passengers passed through Malta International Airport (MIA) last year, with one in five coming from the UK.

Replying to questions, a police spokesperson said passengers had been warned that the new system could result in longer processing times.

“The general public was urged to take this into consideration while travelling in and out of the Schengen area,” they said.

During peak periods in summer, the airport will implement a contingency plan within the Schengen arrivals corridor- MIA spokesperson

The police said Malta is already processing 100% of eligible passengers through the entry/exit system, with the police force acting as the local primary interface for the EU “through the Maltese government’s central IT systems”.

According to the spokesperson, random tests show it takes around a minute-and-a-half to process each passenger through the system, although that can depend on various factors.

“The length of time to process a passenger varies according to several factors, particularly the level of preparedness of the passengers themselves and the number of flights arriving or leaving concurrently,” the spokesperson said.

'Works under way to ease pressure'

MIA said works are under way to ease the pressure by increasing the number of immigration booths. A spokesperson said the terminal recently underwent an €11 million westward expansion of around 1,500 square metres to introduce a new Schengen arrivals corridor by March 2025. That freed up space to expand the non-Schengen arrivals hall and install infrastructure needed to handle non-Schengen arrivals under the entry/exit system.

The expansion was completed in June 2025, increasing immigration processing capacity with six new booths in addition to the existing five, the spokesperson said.

Further works are also taking place in the departures area, which is being reconfigured to add more immigration booths outside Gates 11-18 and inside five Schengen departure gates by next month.

The spokesperson said that, during peak periods in summer, the airport will implement a contingency plan within the Schengen arrivals corridor.

“Border control booths will be temporarily installed in the area to allow for the processing of non-Schengen passengers to be carried out as required,” MIA said.