Ryanair Warns of Flight Redirection from Malta Over EES Delays

Ryanair has warned that it may redirect flights away from Malta, a popular destination for European vacationers, unless authorities address lengthy delays at the island's main airport triggered by the European Union's new Entry/Exit System.

The low-cost carrier, which handled more than half of all passenger traffic to Malta last year, issued the caution amid reports of queues lasting up to 40 minutes for non-EU travelers undergoing biometric registration. David O'Brien, chief executive of Ryanair's Maltese subsidiary Malta Air, contacted Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri to urge full staffing of border controls ahead of the summer peak. "If we find ourselves with significant congestion and delay, we'd have to redirect capacity away from Malta to other destinations, and that's not something we'd like to do," O'Brien told reporters. He added that Europe appeared "utterly unprepared" for the system's rollout, though Malta had not yet seen major disruptions.

The Entry/Exit System, implemented earlier this year across 29 European countries, requires non-EU visitors, including those from the United Kingdom, Malta's largest market, to provide fingerprints, photographs and details...