The Caribbean Tourism Development Company considers that obtaining the pre-clearance facility is the top priority and of top strategic importance for the Caribbean. Pre-clearance is a facility that enables travelers to clear US Customs abroad and enter the US as domestic travelers. Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Development Company explained that the new development of open skies facilities between the Americas and Europe will encourage increased interest in flying to the region. The reasoning is that major international airports are congested and the pre-clearance facility would enable flights to arrive from domestic US airports that offer less costly services and faster turnarounds for airlines.
Allen Chastanet, co-chairman for the public sector in CDTC, said that the ministers argued with the US Congress representatives that the US maintains a trade surplus with the Caribbean, and that in absolute terms there is no business in the Caribbean that could take business from any company in the US.
At the meeting, aviation consultant Darryl Jenkins announced that Southwest, which currently only flies into domestic airports, could be looking into coming to the Caribbean.
“Pre-clearance is critical for taking advantage of the void left from legacy carriers”, he said, commenting that the low-cost carriers need to be able to fly into the airports they are presently operating in the mainland. “They cannot make it in Miami, while Fort Lauderdale is successful”.