Shannon Airport welcomes the opportunity to extend U.S. preclearance

Shannon Airport has welcomed the proposed changes to the Ireland/United States preclearance agreement which it says will allow it to enhance its U.S. preclearance service at Shannon for its airline customers and their passengers, in particular, its business jet customers.

The decision, announced by the Tánaiste (the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. Simon Coveney TD and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Shane Ross TD, is expected to come into effect in the coming months.

Commenting on the announcement, Shannon Airport’s Director of Operations, Niall Maloney, said: “This is a welcome announcement as it will allow us to extend our US preclearance service. Currently our U.S. preclearance operates from 09:00 to 17:00 daily, but with the new U.S. agreement we will now be able to extend these hours and offer an out of hours service. This is something which our executive jet customers in particular have requested. They see the time saving benefits as it allows them to fly directly to their home airport from Shannon, rather having to go to a designated clearance airport in the U.S. first before making the onward flight to their home airport.

“In August 2009 Shannon became the first airport in Europe to have full U.S. preclearance and we operated a U.S. pre-inspection facility since 1986. Shannon Airport was the first airport in the world to offer full U.S. preclearance for private aircraft and is still the only airport in either Europe or the Middle East with this unique service,” Maloney concluded.