This article is from page 11 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
THE benefits of pre-clearance are:
For passengers: It will save time and potentially save money.
e Shannon and Dublin are the only European airports that will have full pre clearance facilities on offer to passengers.
e The US currently has no plans to introduce pre-clearance elsewhere in Europe.
e Once the new pre-clearance fa- cilities are in place US bound pas- sengers out of Shannon and Dublin airports will have uninterrupted pas- sage through US airports on arrival. e All customs, US immigration and agriculture clearance will now be completed before passengers leave Ireland.
e Flights from Shannon and Dublin airports will be treated like domes- tic flights in the US. Passengers will have no need to undergo further time consuming checks in any US air- jour
e Passengers will now be able to
check their baggage through from Shannon and Dublin to their final destination in the US even if this involves two flights with different airlines.
¢ Domestic airports are generally cheaper for airlines to use and this should be reflected in the ticket price – meaning potentially cheaper flights for customers.
For airlines: Faster aircraft turnaround which saves money.
e Transatlantic airlines using Shan- non and Dublin will now be able to fly into less congested and less ex- pensive domestic terminals at US airports. This means easier access to aircraft stands thereby minimis- ing the time between touchdown and passengers exiting the aircraft.
e Airlines will now also be able to offer passengers easily accessible on- ward connections.
For Shannon Airport and the mid- west region:
Shannon will be the first airport in Ireland to offer full pre clearance
facilities. This will give the airport authority a unique selling point in its marketing campaigns to attract new airlines to service the airport.
e The introduction of pre-clearance will be particularly useful in the ef- forts of Shannon Airport to retain and promote transatlantic services.
e Pre-clearance will provide the op- portunity to promote the mid-west region for high worth tourism from the US with the strong selling point that on the return leg all US clear- ance requirements would be dealt with before departure.
e Pre-clearance has the potential to Open up other economic benefits for the Shannon region particularly for firms dependent on the US market.
For private aircraft:
e Pre-clearance is also being intro- duced at Shannon for private US bound aircraft. Shannon will be the only airport in Europe to offer this service to private aircraft owners.
e Shannon can expect a significant increase in private aircraft landing to avail of the facility.