DUBAI: The subsidy spat between US and Gulf carriers has not affected plans for Dubai to have a US customs preclearance facility at the Dubai Airport, said Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline & Group.
“Even after the allegations started, the US officials want to see the facility in Dubai — similar to what they have at the Abu Dhabi Airport,” he told media at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM).
He added that the issue, however, is the space available today at the Dubai International for the American Homeland Security and Custom to be there. “So it is not like they don’t want to do it. It’s just that I don’t have the space at the moment,” he said.
Shaikh Ahmad did not rule out the possibility of having the facility at the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC). “We could think of putting the facility at the airport in Jebel Ali [DWC] as it’s new and has the space. But that doesn’t stop us from looking at if we can still do it at the existing airport.”
Abu Dhabi International Airport already has that facility. The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility at the Abu Dhabi Airport’s Terminal 3 allows passengers on certain flights to the US to undertake all immigration, customs and agriculture inspections in Abu Dhabi prior to departure. Qatar has also been in talks with the US authorities to apply for a US preclearance facility at their newly-opened airport in Doha.
Shaikh Ahmad further said that Emirates is “going ahead with its global expansion plan” that includes launching additional US routes despite the US carriers accusing Emirates of receiving unfair subsidies besides its aggressive expansion into America.
Without naming the route owing to confidentiality agreements, he said that Emirates will be launching another US destination in September this year. The carrier recently announced plans to begin daily flights to Orlando, its 10th passenger destination in the US, having already launched Boston and Chicago last year. It also recently announced its adding a second daily frequency to Seattle as of July this year. “We are also thinking about [launching flights to] other cities in the US,” Shaikh Ahmad said. “Under the existing bilaterals, I can fly to any point I want to [in the US]. As we speak today, we are going ahead with our plans as decided. And that hasn’t changed because of these allegations.”
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