British Airways BA003 business class flights to New York set to lose US immigration pre-clearance at Shannon

British Airways recently announced that its one of the two daily all-business class flights between London City and New York JFK is set to lose US immigration pre-clearance at Shannon airport in October this year.

The airline in a statement said that the passengers booking business class tickets on London City-New York route would no longer be taking advantage of US immigration pre-clearance at Shannon airport effective October 28, 2012.

The all-business class flights service was introduced by British Airways on London City-New York JFK route in 2009. The business flights are being operated with the help of 32-seater Airbus A318 aircraft.
The airline’s business class-only service between the two cities, which has stopover at Shannon airport, will now be entering its 3rd year of successful flights operation.

British Airways Flight # BA003 would be affected because of cutbacks at Shannon airport, where US officials would now be working fewer hours. Currently, Flight # BA003 departs London City airport at 1600 hours. However, when the flight would be arriving at Shannon airport then the passengers would not be able to avail pre-clearance facilities as it would be closed by then.