Australians set for speedier passage through American airports

It was announced on 6 August that Australians will be eligible for faster passage through American airports, starting early next year. The US Global Entry programme will allow pre-approved, low-risk travellers from Australia to use automated kiosks – speeding up processing time considerably. Melissa Elf (pictured), corporate COO of Australian-based Flight Centre Travel Group, described it as “fantastic news” for corporate travellers that Australians will soon have access to the USA’s Global Entry and TSA PreCheck programmes, which speed up customs and security clearances at American airports. “Over 12,000 Australian companies export to the United States and our Flight Centre Corporate data shows us travel for the education sector has grown 93% year on year for the January to June half – taking out the top spot for industry travelled. “Services remained in second place, with Government and Not-for-Profit moving up to third place from fourth, and Mining Oil and Gas, and Finance and Insurance rounding out the top five industries travelled between the countries,” Elf said. Elf added that although Los Angeles remains as the number one destination for business travellers for the FCM Travel and Corporate Traveller businesses, New York has stormed up the list into second place, followed by Las Vegas, San Francisco, and the Silicon Valley of Boston. “Australian business travellers have been buoyed by the number of new, direct routes that have now opened up between our two countries, but we are still behind the curve when it comes to capacity versus 2019 – more choice and competition going forward will see travel grow even more,” Elf noted.