CBP Announce New Airport Preclearance Facility
[Updated] U.S. Customs and Border Protection [CBP] announced a new Preclearance Terminal will open at Bermuda’s airport, saying “this new state of the art facility truly reflects the best Bermuda has to offer, and it exemplifies the strength of the partnership between CBP Preclearance and the people of the island.”
The new airport terminal is scheduled to officially open for operations tomorrow [Dec 9] with a ribbon cutting ceremony set to be held.
A statement posted today on the official CBP website said, “U.S. Customs and Border Protection [CBP] announced today a new Preclearance Terminal that will open Wednesday at the new L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda.
“The new Preclearance facility opening will take place immediately after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday. The ceremony will be preceded by the official airport ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will take place at 8:30 a.m.”
Slideshow of part of the inside of the new airport terminal:
“This opening has been a long time coming, but we are excited to finally deploy critical new resources and technological innovations to help improve the traveler experience in Bermuda, while still maintaining the highest levels of national security,” said Clint Lamm, Director of Field Operations, CBP Preclearance. “The beautiful facility builds onto decades of benefits that this program has delivered to both Americans and Bermudians.”
They added, “The new terminal will include Simplified Arrival, an enhanced international arrival process that uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the United States.
“This process provides travelers with a touchless experience that further secures and streamlines international arrivals while fulfilling a longstanding Congressional mandate to biometrically record the entry and exit of non-U.S. citizens.
“This new technology is part of a $250 million upgrade to L.F. Wade International Airport that began in April 2017. The new terminal will be split between two levels, and will include airside and groundside facilities. The updated facility was designed to process more than 800 passengers an hour.
Video of a ‘test run’ of a airplane docking at the new terminal:
“Established in Bermuda in 1974, Preclearance enables travelers to complete customs, immigration, and agriculture inspections before boarding direct flights to the United States. Precleared travelers in transit will not require CBP and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security inspections upon arrival in the United States, saving valuable time as they proceed to connecting flights or their destination.
“Combining Simplified Arrival with our Preclearance procedures will not only help us process passengers more efficiently, but it will allow us to better protect traveler and officer safety,” said Cletus William, Port Director, CBP Bermuda.
“This new state of the art facility truly reflects the best Bermuda has to offer, and it exemplifies the strength of the partnership between CBP Preclearance and the people of the island.”
Update Dec 9, 10.22am: Photo of the opening
‘The updated facility was designed to process more than 800 passengers an hour’
800?…we don’t get 800 a day at present!
(fish supper methinks tonight).
At present no. Summer time precovid yes.
since when has Bermuda ever processed 800 passengers an hour?
The terminal was not built for what is today. It was built for what hopefully will be demand for tomorrow.
Some of us are old enough to remember the days when Pan Am flew a 747 here every day, British Airways used a 747, Delta flew a wide body Tristar, Eastern flew wide body L1011s & Air Canada was everyday plus multiple flights to Halifax a week. It was not uncommon to have five planes on the ground.
The terminal groaned under the stress of demand then, & that was before all of the security that we have today.
The new terminal will be truly ours in 27 years. If Bermuda takes care of it the terminal should last another 30 years past that before a replacement is needed.
Great job everyone