OSLO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- All foreign airlines in Norway are against a proposal to provide Oslo airport with U.S. preclearance facilities, newspaper Aftenposten reported Monday.
Norway's state-owned airport operator Avinor is trying to make Oslo airport a so-called preclearance-airport, where U.S. officials would do the entry check of travelers to the United States before taking off.
All foreign airlines in Norway are against this plan. The only company supporting it being low-cost airline Norwegian, which accuses its competitors of destroying business opportunities in Norway by opposing a preclearance plan.
Opponents, on the other hand, believe that this would only move the queues from U.S. immigration to Norwegian soil and that Norway will have to pay high price for U.S. border control.
None of the members of the Board of Airline Representatives in Norway (Barin), that includes companies like Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways and United, are interested in helping to establish the scheme, said Terje Grue, Barin's chairman and head of Emirates in Norway.
"We are critical of both area use and, not least, the financing of a possible preclearance facility at Oslo airport. This is because primarily only one operator wants such a facility," Grue said.
Airline Norwegian maintains its belief in preclearance that it will contribute to increased traffic, value creation and jobs.
The company's communications director Anne-Sissel Skanvik said that Norwegian is willing to pay for the scheme, depending on the company's return in terms of increased traffic and revenues. She added that it was still unclear how big the cost for the airlines would be.
Joachim Westher Andersen, communications manager at Oslo airport, told Aftenposte that no final decision had yet been made regarding establishing of preclearance in Oslo.
