U.S. customs and immigration pre-clearance for general aviation flights to the U.S. resumed yesterday at Ireland’s Shannon Airport, following a lengthy suspension due to the Covid-19 crisis. According to Universal Weather & Aviation, all crew and passengers must now be cleared in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office in the terminal due to precautionary health measures put in place by the CBP, and onboard clearance will not return until the Covid crisis has ceased.
All personal protective equipment, protective screening, sanitizing measures, and social distancing will be in effect in the CBP office, as well as by the CBP officers.
Pre-clearance operating hours will be unchanged from before they were curtailed by the pandemic, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time, and Universal recommends that all operators wishing to pre-clear at Shannon should notify their handler as early as possible (preferably at least 24 hours) so that CBP can begin processing information before arrival.
CBP pre-clearance for general aviation aircraft was introduced at Shannon in 2010, originally for private non-revenue flights, but the following year the pre-clearance service was expanded to include charter operations.