Turbulence Ahead For U.S.-Bound Indian Carriers

If that's cute, nicer still is that the idea is anchored on U.S., South Asians. As far as India is concerned, only 4 percent of the market of four million, two-way air seats each year to the U.S. (estimate by aviation think tank Centre for Aviation -- CAPA) goes via the Middle East.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of the UAE, now ailing, wanted more. So, after millions of dirhams worth of consummate advocacy on Capitol Hill, Abu Dhabi is now only the 15th airport to get pre-immigration, "city pair" status. to the U.S. -- the first addition to a list of ultra-special relationships that had stopped growing since the 1980s.

For the record, the first time that U.S. customs and immigration was allowed outside of the U.S. was in Toronto, Canada, in 1952. And the request came from American Airlines just so that pile-ups were avoided at U.S. airports.

Since then, almost all airports in Canada, two in Ireland, and others in the Caribbean, have been accorded the same privilege. Emirates, in recent years, has been wooing Indian passengers to the U.S. via Dubai and then Dublin, where similar U.S. customs and immigration facilities are available -- but that makes it two stop-overs.

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