The Customs and Border Protection has a program called pre-clearance, in which people flying from select foreign destinations clear U.S. immigrations and customs before they get on their flight, rather than after they land here in the U.S. If you’ve flown to Charlotte (or elsewhere in the U.S.) from major Canadian airports such as Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa or from Aruba, Bermuda, Freeport, Nassau, or, in recent years, Dublin or Shannon, you’ve seen pre-clearance in action.
Now the CBP says that it’s working to extend pre-clearance to 10 more airports: Amsterdam, Brussels, Istanbul, London Heathrow, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Punta Cana, Stockholm, and Tokyo Narita. Could this have an impact here in Charlotte? Absolutely, as the more flights that are pre-cleared, the less the need for Charlotte Douglas International Airport to build a new international terminal.
Here’s the scope of the issue at CLT, based upon weekday flights this summer:
Europe:
Flights a day: 9 to 8 destinations
Currently pre-cleared: 1 (Dublin)
To add pre-clearance: 3 (London Heathrow x 2, Madrid)
Would still do immigrations and customs in CLT: 5 (Barcelona, Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Rome)
Caribbean/Latin America/Mexico:
Flights a day: 24 to 13 destinations
Domestic: 3 (San Juan x 2, St. Thomas)
Currenly pre-clear: 5 (Aruba, Freeport, Nassau x 3)
To add pre-clearance: 3 (Punta Cana x 3)
Would still do immigrations and customs in CLT: 13 (Cancun x 4, Grand Cayman, Mexico City, Montego May x 3, Providenciales, St. Maarten x 2, San Jose)
Canada:
All 7 flights a day (6 x Toronto, Montreal) already pre-clear.
So when fully implemented, a 25 percent reduction — from 24 a weeday this summer down to 18 — in the number of flights that need to clear customs and immigration here in Charlotte. I’d love for Brent Cagle to talk about how this latest announcement impacts the airport’s future expansion plans. I’m not holding my breath.