NEW YORK: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wait times at New York JFK and Newark Liberty International airports seem shorter? They are, according to a new study by the Global Gateway Alliance (GGA).
GGA used data from 2013 and 2014 to calculate average wait times, maximum wait times, and arriving passenger traffic for the international terminals serving the New York area airports. It showed that wait times at terminals with passport kiosks dropped dramatically year over year, by 22%, or six minutes. But terminals without the kiosks didn’t show any change.
The study noted that in 2013, New York area airports had the longest Customs wait times in the United States. JFK Terminal 4, home to airlines including Delta, Virgin America, El Al and KLM, was the worst, with passengers waiting in Customs lines for more than two hours on average and more than five hours during peak periods.
But Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks installed in Terminals 1, 4 and 5 at JFK and Terminal B at Newark in the past two years have simplified the Customs process and greatly reduced wait times. APCs can currently be found in 24 US airports and at several international airports that have US Preclearance facilities.
