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COMPANY NEWS
ELITE AIR APPROVED FOR INTERNATIONAL
FLIGHTS INTO ST. PETE-CLEARWATER ON WEEKENDS
U.S. Customers and Border Protection selected Elite Air to be a part of its Reimbursable Services Program (RSP) on March 3. The program allows Elite Air-managed aircraft to perform international flights into and out of St. Pete-Clear- water International Airport (PIE) during weekend hours.
Previously, Elite Air’s jets were forced to stop at a dif- ferent port to enter the country on Saturdays and Sundays. “This is huge for our owners,” Elite Air President AJ Becker said. “We love PIE, and its convenience is a selling point. This was the one thing holding it back.”
CBP created the new program in response to record in- creases in passenger and cargo volumes, which have out- paced the organization’s personnel and infrastructure re- sources over the past several years, resulting in increased passenger wait times and cargo backups.
Customer requests drive RSP partnerships, and Elite Air
lead the charge in opening PIE for weekend international flights. RSP can include customs, immigration, agricultural processing, border security, and support at any facility where CBP provides or will provide services. The program’s finan- cial component covers costs like salaries, benefits, overtime expenses, administration, and transportation.
In the first three years of the program, CBP has commit- ted to about 60 RSP agreements, providing 368,000 addi- tional processing hours and handling 8 million more trav- elers than ever before. In the program’s first year, the added hours and lane openings, along with other passenger pro- cessing initiatives, helped decrease wait times in the air environment by an average of almost 30 percent, while traveler volume had increased about 7 percent. CBP con- tinues to expand the program as the organization signs new agreements with operators.
The new international travel options for Elite Air customers are made possible by a partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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