Shannon Airport is commemorating the 15th anniversary of introducing US Preclearance services, allowing passengers to go through customs and immigration before departure.
To expedite the process, a new Mobile Passport Control (MPC) app has been launched, enabling US-bound passengers to complete part of the pre-clearance process electronically before arriving at the airport.
Shannon Airport was the first in the world, outside of the Americas, to offer full Preclearance for both commercial and private flights, and the first to have a combined checkpoint system that meets both European and US Transportation Security Administration standards.
The airport has a history of innovation, including establishing the first airport duty-free shop, opening Europe’s first sensory room, and receiving age-friendly status from the World Health Organization. Shannon Airport currently operates five daily transatlantic services to the United States, with a new daily service to New York-JFK recently added by Delta Air Lines.
Mary Considine, CEO of The Shannon Airport Group said: “at Shannon Airport, our focus is on ‘making it easy’ for our passengers, so it is wonderful to be celebrating this milestone of 15 years of full US Customs and Border Preclearance in operation at the airport. The US Preclearance system has truly revolutionised the transatlantic travel experience, with our passengers enjoying an efficient and uncongested airport experience at Shannon Airport, while they also avoid lengthy immigration queues and delays when they land back on US soil as domestic passengers. Over the last 15 years, we have worked closely with our colleagues in US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on process improvements and technology upgrades. The introduction of the combined EU/TSA screening system in 2016, as well as the implementation of the MPC app in February of this year, are just some of the examples of our shared commitment to providing the most seamless experience for passengers. Shannon Airport has a long and proud history of world first achievements. These include establishing the world’s first airport duty free shop in 1945; opening Europe’s first sensory room in 2017 and being one of the first airports in the world to be awarded age-friendly status by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2022. We are immensely proud of our history of innovation at Shannon Airport and we are committed to building on this legacy into the future. Collaboration with our colleagues in US CBP will be central to this and we look forward to continuing to strengthen this important relationship and explore methods by which we can further enhance our US Preclearance service.”
