Regulations and Government
U.S. Customs at Shannon too limited, say operators
Pre-clearance of business aircraft for U.S.

Pre-clearance of business aircraft for U.S. Customs and immigration checks began at Shannon Airport on the west coast of Ireland on March 1. However, contrary to earlier expectations, it is restricted to Part 91 private flights and operators can fly only into a limited number of U.S. airports.

During the first week of March, the screening process by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has seen operators taking between 75 and 90 minutes to be cleared for departure. In some cases, this is still longer than the process takes at U.S. airports, but there are expectations that it will be accelerated following a 30-day trial period for the new procedure.