Skift Take
U.S. airlines and tourism lose money when international visitors have to wait for hours to navigate U.S. customs. There may be some politics at play in U.S. airlines opposition to the preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi, but there certainly are much busier airport gateways to the U.S. that could use similar streamlining.
Arlines for America, the U.S. airline trade group, lashed out at the way U.S. Customs and Border Protection allocates resources considering its goal of speeding the clearance of 90 million passengers who arrive on international flights annually.
In the A4A's crosshairs is the recent CBP agreement with Abu Dhabi Airport to establish a preclearance facility at the airport.
At a briefing today on its summer travel forecast, A4A displayed a slide showing that Abu Dhabi Airport ranks 80th in average daily passenger arrivals in the U.S., with 573 passengers per day, compared with airports such as London Heathrow, Toronto, and Tokyo Narita, the top 3, with each sending more than 10,000 passenger
