Traveling from the United Arab Emirates to the United States has become easier. A new U.S. Customs clearance facility has opened in Abu Dhabi's airport. While the new facility may mean good news for passengers, it is drawing criticism from pilots and Congress members.
Some say the facility only opened because of funding from the UAE, which pays 85 percent of the operational costs, including the salaries of U.S. Customs and Border officials. With the new facility, travelers may choose to fly directly from Abu Dhabi to the U.S. on a Etihad Airways flights, the national carrier for the UAE and the only non-stop flight option, the Associated Press reports.
This new preclearance facility is similar to others in Canada, the Caribbean and Ireland. The Abu Dhabi facility allows passengers to complete U.S. customs and immigration before boarding flights to the United States and is the first of its kind in the Middle East. It is also the first preinspection facility to open since the 1980s.
The first flight in which passengers were able to use the preclearance facility took place on Friday for a flight heading from Abu Dhabi to Washington Dulles airport.
Some are angry because they believe this facility gives a competitive advantage to Etihad airline over U.S. airlines which don't have nonstop flights between the two countries. Etihad said more flights will use this facility in the future. The UAE airline currently has non-stop flights between Abu Dhabi and New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago. It plans to add more routes some time this year to Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth.
Even though Etihad is the only airline with nonstop routes to the U.S., it also has codeshare partnerships with JetBlue Airways and American Airlines which allow passengers to fly on routes operated by both airlines.
One group against the new Abu Dhabi facility is the Air Line Pilots Association. The group is against it saying that Etihad benefits most from the facility as passengers may choose Etihad over U.S. airlines to avoid long customs lines.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association argued that the facility is a waste of money as the traffic-rate for U.S. bound passengers is only about 200 per day on average.
Back in April, 14 Congress members signed a letter to the Department of Homeland Security that said the facility would set a dangerous precedent of of deploying customs resources based on third-party financing and "not national security, common sense or the needs of traveling taxpayers." Congress introduced a bill that would block the facility in November.
While many are against the facility, JetBlue supports it. "We believe that in addition to the need for an increase in CBP (Customs and Border Control) staffing at key U.S. gateway airports, more preclearance facilities like the one planned for Abu Dhabi are both a vital tool to enhance our nation's security and reduce the number of travelers clearing Customs at already delayed entry points - and that ultimately reduces wait times for everyone else," JetBlue said in a statement to Today in the Sky.
"We have many customers today who arrive from Abu Dhabi on our partner Etihad Airways who then continue their journey on JetBlue flights across the U.S.," the airlineadded."Preclearance would allow them to make faster connections state-side and get on with business. The less hassle travelers have coming into the country, the more visitors will come and that's good for all of us in the travel industry."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
