International travelers can apply for expedited entry at Ontario airport – Press Enterprise

Travelers looking for a faster way through customs when they come home from trips abroad will be able to apply for expedited entry at the Ontario International Airport.

Airport officials gathered with Inland Empire and U.S. Customs and Border Protection representatives Thursday, Dec. 21, to celebrate the opening of the Global Entry Enrollment Center at ONT’s Diane Feinstein International Terminal.

Global entry, a program managed by the federal customs agency, provides expedited entry into the United States for pre-approved low-risk travelers. Using automated kiosks, approved travelers can bypass the long lines often experienced at customs entry points.

Wait times in customs lines at ONT airport can reach up to 45 minutes, according to Dean Brown, the airport’s public safety administrator. At some airports, the process can take two or more hours, he said. With global entry, arriving international travelers can skip the lines at ONT and be done with customs processing in five to 10 minutes, Brown said.

To enroll in the program, Brown said, travelers must have a United States passport. Applications can be filed online, but travelers must submit to an interview before they can be approved for expedited customs services.

Before ONT opened its global entry center, Inland Empire travelers looking to enroll in the program had to wait about 18 months for an interview at centers at the Los Angeles International and San Diego International airports.

The ONT center “allows another option for people to not have to travel (to LAX), and alleviates some of the backlog,” Brown said.

The center will provide much needed services to the area and a boost to the local economy, said Cheryl Davies, Customs and Border Protection director of field operations in Los Angeles.

Davies said the project began in January 2022 and was a collective effort between the airport, local leaders and Customs and Border Protection.

Thursday, officials from the region celebrated the opening of the enrollment center and the partnerships that made it a reality.

“It’s a celebration about relationships,” said Alan Wapner, an Ontario City Council member and president of the Ontario International Airport Authority. Without those relationships, he said, the global entry center at ONT would not have been a possibility.

“With this new global entry program we are now on the front page of the travel magazines,” said Rep. Norma J. Torres, D-Ontario.

The airport is home to international airlines Volaris, Avianca and China Airlines, and reported more than 200,000 international travelers in 2022.