Air travellers on all Etihad Airways flights to the US from this week will be able to experience the benefits of arriving in the US having pre-cleared US Customs and Border Protection at Abu Dhabi Airport.

In a statement, the airline said from January 15 US pre-clearance will be open for the early morning Etihad flights to New York JFK and San Francisco, both of which conveniently connect with inbound services from Mumbai, Delhi and other cities in India and the Indian sub-continent.

The new early morning US pre-clearance operation complements the mid-morning one which caters to Etihad Airways’ passengers on flights to Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York JFK, and Washington, DC, who all proceed through the facility.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We’re delighted that from this Thursday all air travellers flying to the US from Abu Dhabi will enjoy the benefits that US customs and immigration pre-clearance offers. Since its opening in January last year, the US pre-clearance has been extremely popular with air travellers, particularly those from the Indian subcontinent and Middle East region. More than 325,000 people have passed through the facility, arriving in the US as domestic passengers.”

The pre-clearance process provides passengers with the unique opportunity to pass through all required checks, including US customs, immigration and security conveniently while in Abu Dhabi, before they board their flight to the US, enabling them to avoid queues on arrival.

Another benefit of US pre-clearance is that baggage security screening meets US TSA security standards, allowing air travellers who connect onto a US domestic flight to have their baggage checked through from Abu Dhabi to their final destination.

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