U.S. Pre-clearance
Re. SecondDog's question on CBP history in Dublin, it originated with a Shannon Airport management initiative to establish U.S. Pre-Inspection (immigration only) at that airport as an enhancement to Shannon's efforts to attract additional tech. transit traffic which was a significant proportion of SNN's business in the 1980s. After much effort on the airport's behalf a trial facility was established in 1986 and a permanent facility opened in 1988. Ironically, given their development of transatlantic transfer traffic at Dublin recently, Aer Lingus initially refused to use the service at Shannon although many other carriers did, including Delta and Pan Am. For competitive reasons Aer Lingus eventually had to use the service but their attitude did much to fuel the feeling that they were actively working to favour their Dublin transatlantic services over Shannon's.
Some years later Dublin, a sister airport of Shannon's in the Aer Rianta group at the time, opened a Pre-inspection facility and, following the consolidation of U.S. Immigration and Customs into Customs and Border Protection post-911, both facilities now offer full Pre-clearance to passengers but Shannon has recently acquired approval to clear corporate aircraft enroute to the U.S. which enables operators to fly direct from SNN to their home towns, even if they're non-gateway airports.
Last edited by gaelgeoir; 27th Aug 2013 at 19:34.