Shannon Airport is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the introduction of US pre-handling services in Shannon, County Clare this month.
In August 2009, Shannon became the first airport in the world outside the Americas to introduce full passenger pre-clearance. This means that passengers from Ireland can arrive in the USA as domestic passengers, avoid long immigration queues, collect their luggage and fly. Shannon remains one of only two airports in Europe to have US pre-clearance facilities.
The following year, 2010, Shannon Airport experienced another first: it was the first airport in the world to offer full US pre-clearance for business aircraft.
Building on this, in 2016 Shannon Airport became the first airport in the world to implement a combined screening system in accordance with European and US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations. This means that the passenger is only screened once according to both legal standards, thus eliminating the additional screening requirements that apply at other airports with pre-screening.
These provisions, combined with the airport’s shorter queues, snooze room and age-appropriate initiatives, mean flying with Shannon has never been easier.
Mary Considine, CEO of Shannon Airport Group, welcomed the anniversary: “At Shannon Airport, we are focused on making things as easy as possible for our passengers, so it is wonderful to be able to celebrate this milestone of 15 years of full US Customs and Border Protection at the airport.
“The US preclearance system has truly revolutionised the transatlantic travel experience. Our passengers enjoy an efficient and congestion-free airport stay at Shannon Airport, while avoiding long queues and immigration delays when they land back on US soil as domestic passengers.
“Over the past 15 years, we have worked closely with our colleagues at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on process improvements and technology upgrades. The introduction of the joint EU/TSA screening system in 2016 and the implementation of the MPC app in February of this year are just a few examples of our shared commitment to providing passengers with the most seamless experience possible.”
Shannon Airport has a long and proud history of world-class achievements, including 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 Organization (WHO) in 2022.
“We are immensely proud of our history of innovation at Shannon Airport and we are committed to building on that legacy going forward. Collaboration with our colleagues at US CBP will be key to that and we look forward to further strengthening this important relationship and exploring ways to further enhance our US Preclearance service,” concluded Ms Considine.
Shannon Airport offers five daily transatlantic services to the USA. A new daily service to New York-JFK with Delta Air Lines began operations earlier this summer, expanding the airport’s transatlantic service offering during the busy holiday season. This service complements the airport’s existing daily Boston and New York services with Aer Lingus and Chicago and Newark services with United.
As part of another initiative to speed up the U.S. preclearance process at Shannon Airport, a new innovative Mobile Passport Control App (MPC) was recently launched. MPC is a free mobile app designed to streamline the entry process for travelers to the United States by reducing screening time at the U.S. preclearance facility at Shannon Airport.
Passengers to the US can now complete part of the pre-clearance process through the app before arriving at the airport. The secure app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play, allows passengers to create a profile using their passport information, which they can then use to electronically submit their travel documents, a photo and their customs declaration, eliminating the need to fill out a paper form.
