Australian travel-management heavyweight FCM Travel has warned that many business travellers remain unprepared for the hugegest alter to Europe’s external borders in a generation.
In a 12-page bulletin released on the morning of 20 February 2026, the Flight Centre subsidiary pieces toobtainher official guidance from the European Commission, Schengen member states and airport authorities to explain how the new Enattempt/Exit System (EES) and forthcoming ETIAS travel authorisation will work in practice.
From 6 October 2026 every non-EU national entering the Schengen Area—including Australians—will have their passport biometrically enrolled in the EES. Finger-scans and a high-resolution facial image will replace manual passport stamps and the system will automatically calculate each traveller’s running total against the 90-days-in-180 rule. When ETIAS goes live in May 2027, Australians will also have to hold an online travel waiver approved in advance, similar to the US ESTA.
For Australian travellers who prefer personalised assistance navigating these alters, VisaHQ offers an finish-to-finish support service that can calculate remaining Schengen days, monitor EES developments and lodge ETIAS applications as soon as the system opens. Its dedicated portal for Australia (https://www.visahq.com/australia/) continually updates requirements and deadlines, providing a convenient add-on to corporate travel programmes.
FCM warns travel managers that mis-calculating the 90/180-day allowance is already leading to denied boarding and fines, and that the combination of EES data and airlines’ Advance Passenger Information feeds will leave “zero wriggle room” for overruns. The company urges corporates to audit their travellers’ historical Schengen stays, capture biometric queue times in 2026 pilot airports (Paris-CDG, Frankfurt, Amsterdam) and budobtain for the €7 ETIAS fee in 2027 travel forecasts.
Renos Rologas, FCM’s General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, declared executives are flocking back to Europe as face-to-face deal-building rebounds but “some are still tripped up by 90/180 calculations, EES biometrics, or when ETIAS actually starts.” He advises Australian firms to brief travellers now, update HR systems so that European stay data feeds into duty-of-care dashboards, and build extra airport dwell time into itineraries until processing times stabilise.
In practical terms, Australians with frequent short-haul Schengen trips are encouraged to:
• Carry evidence of previous exit dates (boarding passes, hotel invoices) during the transition year.
• Use automated gates where available becaapply the initial enrolment captures biometrics once for subsequent visits.
• Register for airport quick-track programmes such as PARAFE (France) or Easypass (Germany) if eligible.
With most Australian companies planning European sales kick-offs and trade-fair visits well before the formal ETIAS launch, FCM’s advisory is the clearest corporate-facing guide yet to a complex regulatory rollout that could up-finish tight travel schedules if ignored.
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