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As travel picks up again, major airports around the world are feeling the pinch. Of course, the situation is no different in Ireland, where thousands of flights leave for other countries every day.
Border control is one of the areas of airports where queues are extremely long. The United States, one of the most popular travel destinations and having lifted almost all coronavirus-related restrictions, has taken the decision to place some of its border agents at Irish airports to facilitate the arrival process in the US.
Another compulsory step in preparing a trip to the United States is applying for an ESTA. Fortunately, this fast-track visa procedure, almost exclusively reserved for EU and UK citizens, can now be completed online. Regardless of whether travelers have an approved visa, border officials make the final decision on whether a person can enter the country. Of course, you still need to apply for a visa or ESTA in advance. Without either, it’s certain that customs won’t allow anyone to enter the United States.
The decision to place CPB agents at both airports was taken to improve the flow of travelers arriving in the U.S. through its major airports. Some countries, such as Canada, which has hundreds of flights a day to the USA, have also set up this same system for those traveling to that country. Coincidentally, Canada, which receives slightly fewer travelers, but still a lot, doesn’t have the same strategy in place in other countries. So it came as no surprise that Toronto’s Pearson airport made headlines for having hour-long queues at customs. In some cases, aircraft staff were instructed not to let passengers out until the queues had cleared. After a long flight across the ocean, it’s the last thing most travelers want.
Although Ireland doesn’t have as many flights to the U.S. as Canada, Dublin Airport offers daily flights to New York JFK, Newark, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, Chicago and many other U.S. airports. In the year preceding the pandemic, almost 570,000 passengers flew to JFK from Dublin, and almost 490,000 to Chicago. Shannon airport, although smaller, offers flights to and from New York JFK, Newark and Boston. In 2019, it handled around 135,000 passengers to New York JFK and 82,000 to Boston.
These figures are expected to rise. The reason is that travelers from Europe will deliberately choose to make a stopover in Ireland on their way to the U.S. if it means they can get this part of the screening process done faster. Not to mention that indirect flights are generally cheaper, especially with all the Ryanair flights arriving in the country. It’s also a good thing from a geographical point of view, because whether a traveler comes from Slovenia or the UK, Ireland is ideally located on the road to the USA.
The other aim of all this is that these intentional stopovers in Ireland will introduce people to its airports and, hopefully, a bit of the country while they’re at it. After a long pandemic that is now behind us, the Irish are, for the most part, once again ready and willing to welcome the world, even if only for a few hours.
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