Qatar is the latest Gulf country to apply for a controversial US “preclearance” customs post, a development that could potentially offer the region’s government-owned carriers an advantage over other airlines.
Doha’s new international airport, which is expected to open later this year, is in talks with US authorities over such a post, according to Akbar Al Baker, the chief executive of Qatar Airways.
A similar US Customs and Border Protection facility that opened in Abu Dhabi earlier this year led to an uproar among US pilot associations, which claim such posts would give Gulf carriers an unfair advantage over peers. The facility allows passengers to go through US customs before boarding their flight and thus bypass the process after arriving in the US.
“This will enhance our product as we are growing in the United States,” Al Baker told reporters on Saturday.
The growth of the Gulf region’s three biggest carriers — Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways — has irked some European and US carriers, which have complained the Gulf airlines are funded by governments that subsidise their cost base.
The Air Line Pilots Association — the largest pilot union in the US, representing some 50,000 pilots — has objected to the Abu Dhabi facility, previously calling it an “example of bad US government policy.”
Abu Dhabi, whose preclearance facility opened in January, was the 15th airport to secure such a post. Ireland’s Shannon Airport was the first to have such a facility outside North America. Similar facilities exist in Dublin and several Canadian airports as well as in Bermuda, Aruba and the Bahamas. Etihad, which is based at the Abu Dhabi airport, plans to increase flights to New York this month and will launch service to Los Angeles in June and Dallas-Fort Worth in December. No US carriers currently fly to Abu Dhabi, which is paying for about 85 per cent of its preclearance facility.
The two other large Gulf carriers are also aggressively expanding in the US market. Qatar plans to start service to Miami, Philadelphia and Dallas-Fort Worth this year, in addition to its routes to New York, Washington, Chicago and Houston. Emirates said last week it intends to begin service to Chicago and will start flights to Boston from Dubai this month.
Dubai, which operates the world’s second-busiest airport for international traffic, has also expressed an interest in setting up a preclearance facility.
— The Wall Street Journal
