New Pre-Clearance Agreement in Shannon

lynchie

Irish Times wrote:

New agreement for US-bound air passengers
GORDON DEEGAN at Shannon airport

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey today announced an agreement with the US Government that he believes gives Ireland the potential to become a major hub for transatlantic airlines in Europe.

At Shannon airport, Mr Dempsey confirmed that he is to sign an Inter-Governmental Agreement with the US Government in Washington DC on Monday to introduce pre-clearance facilities for US bound passengers at Shannon and Dublin airports.

Chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) Pat Shanahan described the announcement as “an historic day for Shannon”, forecasting that the airport will be able to rebuild its transatlantic business following the introduction of ‘open skies’ by offering effectively ‘domestic US flights’ to airlines.

At a packed press briefing, Limerick East TD and Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea said: “It is a great day for Shannon and it is a day in the future that we will look back as a watershed and an historic day and a day which the future of this airport and the development of this business at this airport was secured.”

The pre-clearance agreement between the two Governments will allow for passengers to undertake all necessary inspections before departing Shannon and Dublin for the US. Up to now, only immigration clearance was provided at Shannon and Dublin, with customs and agriculture inspections taking place on arrival in the US.

The SAA is investing €20 million to have the facilities in place for next summer while Dublin airport’s facilities will be in place for the summer 2010.

Mr Shanahan said: “This agreement has the potential for Shannon to emerge as a major transatlantic aviation gateway."

He added: “It has the potential to significantly increase the number of transatlantic flights daily in and out of Shannon, which will strengthen revenue through increased landing and handling charges and support employment levels at the airport in the process.

“Becoming the first airport in Europe to have these facilities in place will be a very timely boost for Shannon airport considering the current global economic downturn as well as the full onset of Open Skies.”

Mr Shanahan added: “In addition to fast-tracking access for passengers flying from or through Shannon to US international airports, pre-clearance will also enable services to be established directly into any domestic US airport. This will make Shannon an ideal airport for low-cost transatlantic carriers and open the way for significant corporate jet business into any location in the US.”

Today’s announcement comes against the background of a difficult year for Shannon airport.

Figures for the first three quarters of this year show that passenger traffic is down 13 per cent at the airport with the SAA anticipating a 14 per cent decrease at the end of the year. To the end of September, transatlantic traffic was down 24 per cent and London traffic 16 per cent following the introduction of the ‘open skies’ agreement in April and the ending of the Heathrow route in January.

Asked about the potential revenues to be generated for the SAA from the pre-clearance facilities, Mr Shanahan said: “That is an open question. It depends on how successful the airport is in attracting new airlines to Shannon. It will add to the revenues of the airport, there is no doubt about that.”

The pre-clearance facilities were initially due to be in place for summer 2008 to compensate for the loss of the Shannon stop-over. However, Minister Dempsey said yesterday that there were a number of constitutional and legal difficulties to overcome in reaching agreement with the US.

Mr Dempsey said: “This agreement will have major benefits for Ireland. The US authorities have told us that they currently have no plans to extend pre-clearance elsewhere in Europe. This should give Ireland a comparative advantage in the highly competitive transatlantic aviation sector.”

“Passengers from Shannon and Dublin airports will benefit from uninterrupted passage through US airports on arrival saving time and hassle. Transatlantic airlines will benefit from being able to fly into less congested and less expensive domestic terminals on arrival at US airports. This should lead to easier access to aircraft stands thereby minimising the time between touchdown and passengers disembarking"

So I guess this means if you are travelling Shannon - NY - Vegas, you will no longer have to go through customs and recheck your luggage. I assume you will land at the domestic terminals, have your bags checked through and not have to go through security again. Sounds promising and I'd be tempted to travel via Shannon rather than Dublin direct in future.

Alun

But aren't they building just such a facility at Dublin Airport's new terminal as well?

Random

Doesn't the article quote DUblin / Shannon? Why would you go Shannon instead of DUblin then ?

Alun

Random wrote: »

Doesn't the article quote DUblin / Shannon? Why would you go Shannon instead of Dublin then ?

So it does I didn't read it in detail, and the headline / thread title put me off.

Random

Alun wrote: »

So it does I didn't read it in detail, and the headline / thread title put me off.

I was speaking to the OP who said he was going through Shannon now instead. I thought you were saying the same thing as me !

steve-o

Mr Shanahan said: "This agreement has the potential for Shannon to emerge as a major transatlantic aviation gateway."

I'd say it has the potential to doom any hope of Dublin or Shannon being a gateway... anyone transiting in Ireland en route to the USA will surely need to go through the exact same pain that you need to now do on arrival in the US.... collect bags, go through US customs, recheck bags. Who would choose to do that unless they have another connection in the US?

Schuhart

Random wrote: »

Doesn't the article quote DUblin / Shannon? Why would you go Shannon instead of DUblin then ?

Its just the usual ****e of trying to promote Shannon to death. I don't think anyone can explain it rationally, its just something that seems ingrained in our political system. Its out of the same stable that has the Government on the one hand promoting Shannon as the 'gateway' to everywhere from Kerry to Donegal while simultaneously support airports in almost every Western seaboard county, a topic I've already banged on about elsewhere.

Some day, maybe, we'll grow up and actually see ourselves as an independent country, instead of an accidental confederation of British shires, and lose the need to advocate the position of Shannon at every point.

G_R

steve-o wrote: »

I'd say it has the potential to doom any hope of Dublin or Shannon being a gateway... anyone transiting in Ireland en route to the USA will surely need to go through the exact same pain that you need to now do on arrival in the US.... collect bags, go through US customs, recheck bags. Who would choose to do that unless they have another connection in the US?

because they would then be able to fly to a smaller airport in the states..... they wouldnt have to go to a big hub like new york or chicago...

dowlingm

the planned preclearance was a big incentive for BA to plan their London City-SNN-JFK-LCY route with Shannon as the fueling stop which was needed anyway. Good for them for finding a way to maintain a competitive edge.

EDIT: preclearance would also allow operation into La Guardia which is domestic only.

dmeehan

pre-clearance would allow flights from SNN (and later DUB) to land at any airport in the US, including those without International terminals/facilities. Could this be the shot in the arm Michael O'Leary needs to start his trans-atlantic version of ryanair?

G_R

dmeehan wrote: »

Could this be the shot in the arm Michael O'Leary needs to start his trans-atlantic version of ryanair?

it'll certainitly help....he will b able to fly to lsmall low cost airports outside the big cities....

BuffyBot

dowlingm wrote: »

EDIT: preclearance would also allow operation into La Guardia which is domestic only.

LGA is also restricted to flights under 1500 miles if I recall correctly

Tom Dunne

Does this mean they will do anything to improve Shannon? Let's be honest here - it's a third-world hovel.

dowlingm

@buffybot - didn't know that.

Being from the Toronto area I knew about the first restriction because Toronto City Centre (YTZ) flights can't use LGA due no preclearance but is less than 1500 miles so Pearson (YYZ) flights can use LGA. I guess that's why BA are using JFK not LGA for their proposed service.

Zoney

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Does this mean they will do anything to improve Shannon? Let's be honest here - it's a third-world hovel.

I'd still choose to fly from it every time if I could. Dublin is a thoroughly overcrowded hell-hole. It's an ordeal to even get to the airport. Considering the cost of travel Limerick-Dublin, I'd consider paying up to €50 extra to fly out of Shannon.

Flying from Shannon is a breeze, which is quite a good thing considering how much trouble air travel is in general. In contrast to the usual stress, getting a mid-morning flight from Shannon is great. Get out of bed at the usual time, go out of Limerick after rush hour, check in, get a nice Irish breakfast, queue for maybe 5 mins for security, look around in cynical amusement at the duty-free tourist tat, and hop on the plane.

The main thing Shannon needs is better transport connections, which it won't really have until the completion of the N7 Limerick Southern Ring Road & Limerick-Nenagh and N18 Ennis-Gort/Gort-Athenry. With these, it'll finally be able to serve a cachement area it should have had from day 1.