Frequent flyers to the US will now be able to skip long immigration queue at Delhi airport

Passengers flying nonstop to the US from Indira Gandhi International Airport may soon be treated as domestic arrivals upon landing, as customs and immigration checks could be completed at IGI Airport prior to departure.

The GMR-backed Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has asked central government for a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pre-clearance facility at IGIA from where Air India currently operates over 33 weekly direct flights to America, apart from United and American having a daily each to New York — Newark and JFK, respectively.

This direct connectivity is expected to expand, with Air India planning to add more flights and destinations in the US, while IndiGo is also exploring long-haul routes. Delhi serves as the main hub for both airlines. Additionally, US carriers are likely to boost nonstop services once the restrictions on flying over Russian airspace are lifted.

GMR Airports executive director (south) SGK Kishore said on Wednesday, "We are looking at a pre-clearance facility for the US."

An airport source told TOI, "We have asked govt for a US CBP pre-clearance facility at IGIA. This is a govt-to-govt process that will take some time." He added, "Given the number of nonstops Delhi will soon have to the US, a CBP at IGIA will offer great convenience as pre-cleared passengers will arrive as domestic passengers in the US. They will just take their bags on arrival and quickly walk out of the airport."

Landing into the busiest US airports like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago at peak arrival times means long queues at immigration, especially for the wide majority of passengers in coach. So running out of planes — something seen in India regularly — is common to avoid being too far back in those queues. Just to skip this, many travellers from India fly Etihad via Abu Dhabi, which has a CBP.

A CBP at IGIA could see many travellers skip their one-stop connecting flights on foreign airlines with their hubs in the Gulf, Europe or Southeast Asia. It will also help the govt aim of establishing IGIA as a global hub, with US-bound passengers from some nearby countries also opting to fly via Delhi.

The US CBP website says pre-clearance is the "strategic stationing of CBP personnel at designated foreign airports to inspect travellers prior to boarding US-bound flights. With pre-clearance, travellers then bypass CBP and Transportation Security Administration inspections upon US arrival and proceed directly to their connecting flight or destination."

CBP currently has over 600 officers at 15 pre-clearance locations in six countries. For Indian travellers, the closest pre-clearance is at Abu Dhabi and Etihad has been adding US nonstops with an eye on India. "In 2019, CBP personnel stationed abroad pre-cleared 2.2 crore travellers, representing over 16% of all commercial air travellers to the US," the website says.


(With TOI inputs)