Well Suzeman i bow to your knowledge of the subject, clearly i have missed something as i have not seen one single reference to this until now.
Nor have I and I suspect that there hasn't been anything.
Whilst I fully appreciate they not going to email us the minutes of every meeting i would have thought it would at least have been mentioned in the same way that other "salient messages" are released to press home a point or lobby for indirect support as clearly MAN would benefit from such an arrangement "at the point negotiations opened".
Whilst it is clearly only a small part of a negotiation ...... lobbying a government dept to show your interest via subtle comment in the media is usually a part of that process.
If things are proceeding OK, why bother to use the media - keep your powder dry. Sometimes exposing things in the media can be counter productive, especially if there are lots of sensitivities involved. I've seen things go horribly wrong as a result. In addition, leaking things via the media can result in you being thought of as untrustworthy by civil servants etc - the very people you are seeking to influence and get on side.
Now lobbying Government Departments in private is a whole different thing and who is to know what has been and is going on - not me or you. But you only get things in the media when the time is right.
Anyway, the latest UK thoughts about pre-clearance started in 2011 (although there had been plenty of discussions years before that when Shannon opened its pre-inspection facility) in the draft aviation policy framework.
In the final policy framework document (March 2013) the following is said
1.68 Outside of the EU, the US remains the single most popular market for air services from the UK, with some 17 million terminal passengers at a number of UK airports flying to and from the US. The US authorities provide immigration, customs and agricultural pre-clearance facilities at 15 airports outside the US, including at Dublin and Shannon Airports in Ireland. These facilities, operated by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), allow passengers travelling to the US to clear US arrival checks before departure, allowing for easier and quicker connections and arrivals in the US.
1.69 The Government believes that introducing US pre-clearance at the UK
airports could offer significant passenger benefits and improve the overall
end-to-end journey experience for passengers flying from the UK to the US,
whilst at the same time maintaining passenger security and a secure border, which are shared US and UK priorities. The decision on whether to operate such facilities at airports overseas ultimately rests with the US authorities.
1.70 Accordingly, the Government will consider, with the US authorities and
interested stakeholders in the UK, the feasibility of such facilities being made available in the UK, including the practical and legal issues that would need to be addressed.
Now nobody here seems to have posted a link to the Dept of Homeland Security release, so here it is
DHS Announces Intent to Expand Preclearance to 10 New Airports | Homeland Security
And some relevant bits
After nearly a year-long process that began with soliciting expressions of interest from foreign airports, CBP identified these airports in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of State (DoS) and prioritized them based on the greatest potential to support security and travel facilitation. More than two dozen foreign airports expressed an interest in opening Preclearance facilities. DHS and DoS evaluated all interested foreign airports in collaboration with stakeholders across the government, and with the U.S. and global aviation industry.
The 10 airports identified for possible preclearance locations include: Brussels Airport, Belgium; Punta Cana Airport, Dominican Republic; Narita International Airport, Japan; Amsterdam Airport Schipol, Netherlands; Oslo Airport, Norway; Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain; Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden; Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey; and London Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airport, United Kingdom. These countries represent some of the busiest last points of departure to the United States – in 2014, nearly 20 million passengers traveled from these ten airports to the US.
So serious discussions with the US about pre-clearance at MAN and other places has been going on for about a year, Bagso without a hint of anything in the press.
MAN's application has been accepted and there is no way this could have happened without there having been intensive discussions with the UK Government who would have to support it. And evaluation teams have been roving round the airport and no doubt looking at plans of how pre-clearance could be achieved. And all without us knowing - shame
What is unclear to me so far is what further negotiations are required, what UK legislative changes are required and the timescales. No doubt it will all come out in the press at the appropriate time...
