EDINBURGH'S airport could soon see American border control agents taking up posts.
Several Irish and Canadian cities have "preclearance" facilities on site, which allow passengers travelling to the US to go through customs and immigration before boarding the plane.
Airport CEO Gordon Dewar said he hopes to make Edinburgh the next on the list, telling The Independent he is trying to rally the US and UK governments to support the changes to make the "great opportunity" a reality.
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He told the paper: "For a long time we’ve understood the value of preclearance. We see the benefits when we look at Dublin airport and others, and we’ve been constantly growing our direct American connectivity over the previous years.
"So we know it’s a great opportunity."
Preclearance allows passengers to leave the airport immediately after disembarking from their planes, avoiding travelling through customs and immigration after a long-haul flight.
This could lead travellers from across Europe to book transfers through Edinburgh, looking to save time and avoid stress on their flight to the US.
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It also means passengers can book easy connections through American airports from Edinburgh, which would let them avoid the hassle of rechecking bags and going through security.
Edinburgh has more connections to the US than any other airport in Scotland, with direct flights to New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston and Atlanta.
But just over the Irish Sea, Dublin Airport has a much wider range of links.
Dewar said: “If you look at what Dublin have achieved: they’ve got a similar size population to Scotland in Ireland, and yet they’ve probably got about four times as much connectivity to the States.
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"A big part of that is the preclearance offer."
Building a preclearance facility would likely give Edinburgh Airport a competitive advantage over other UK airports.
Precleared flights departing from the city could use domestic gates at American airports, letting airlines avoid the logistical and financial struggle for the scarce supply of international slots available.
Customs preclearance already exists in the UK, but it is limited to rail travel to France through the Channel Tunnel.
Launching the scheme would require the signing of an agreement between the US and UK governments.
Dewar estimates that it would take two to three years after the signing of an agreement for the preclearance facility to be created.
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