The Greater Washington Business Aviation Association (GWBAA) is hosting a ribbon cutting for a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility at Virginia's Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO) on March 27 as part of an open house the regional association is holding. NBAA, noting the new customs option in the Washington, D.C. area, said it will relieve pressure from other busy regional facilities.
“The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is a prime international destination for business travelers,” said Paige Kroner, NBAA’s Mid-Atlantic regional representative. “This new CBP facility at Leesburg will provide business aircraft operators an alternative option for clearing customs and will help alleviate congestion at other local airports.”
The CBP facility will be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., but 24-hour advance notice is requested for clearance.
GWBAA’s inaugural open house and static display at ProJet Aviation will feature business aircraft from Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Honda, and Textron Aviation. In addition, the event, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., will include tours of the first remote air traffic control tower in the U.S. This tower—a collaborative effort between the FAA, the Virginia Small Aircraft Transportation System Laboratory, and Saab Sensis—has undergone a series of trials over the past few years to evaluate the use of remote technology for non-towered airports.