Homeland Security Announces 11 New Airports For Possible Preclearance Expansion

Entrance to Dublin Airport’s preclearance facility. Photo: WestportWiki

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson on Monday announced that 11 new foreign airports have been selected for possible “preclearance” expansion, potentially impacting more than 10 million travelers who fly to the United States each year.

If preclearance operations are expanded to these airports, travelers would undergo immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection before boarding a flight to the United States, rather than having to stand on what likely are longer lines here.

The airports are: Bogota, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Edinburgh, U.K.; Keflavik, Iceland; Mexico City; Milan, Italy; Osaka, Japan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Rome, Italy; São Paulo, Brazil; and St. Maarten.

More than 600 law enforcement officers and agriculture specialists are currently stationed at 15 air preclearance locations, mostly in Canada, the Caribbean and Ireland, but Customs and Border Protection do not currently operate any preclearance locations in South America.

In addition to enhancing security and reducing wait times, preclearance has the potential to increase clearance capacity, facilitate quicker connections to U.S. domestic flights, and maximize aircraft and gate utilization.

CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske said 18 million travelers took advantage of preclearance last year, representing about 15.3% of all commercial air travel to the United States.

“Not only were those millions of travelers able to immediately leave the airport or directly head to their connecting flight upon landing in the United States, but that’s 18 million fewer people waiting in line for CBP officers to process at the Nation’s busiest airports,” he said.

Stockholm Arlanda Airport was one of the 10 airports identified for preclearance expansion in May 2015; just last week, the U.S. and Sweden signed an agreement to implement preclearance operations there. It’s estimated there are about 1.1 million annual travelers between Stockholm and the U.S. Preclearance operations may begin as early as 2019.

CBP said it continues to engage with many of the host governments for the other nine airports “and expects to announce additional agreements in the coming months.” The other airports are: Brussels, Belgium; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Narita International, Japan; Amsterdam Schiphol, Netherlands; Oslo, Norway; Madrid, Spain; Istanbul, Turkey; and England’s London Heathrow and Manchester airports.

U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Roger Dow said “the travel community applauds” the preclearance expansion. “The addition of these countries to Preclearance will be a welcome development for our entry system. Preclearing passengers at foreign airports before they even board a plane to the U.S. is great for both national security and our economy,” said Dow. Preclearance also helps reduce the workload for U.S. customs agents at domestic ports of entry, allowing them to focus on lesser-known travelers.”