MONTEREY – The Monterey Peninsula Airport District has been working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to bring staffing and facilities to the Monterey Regional Airport for the last few years which would give its Port of Entry designation the resources to inspect and clear passengers and goods.
With the new relocated passenger terminal on its way to vertical construction, the answer to the question of what would become of the existing terminal included its possible transition to other uses, particularly a U.S. Customs operation available for large general aviation aircraft.
Monterey Regional Airport already has Port of Entry status, but clearing international travelers and goods through customs allowing entry into the United States is not yet possible as there are no U.S. Customs personnel to perform the tasks associated with that function.
“We have Port of Entry designation already, which is the most difficult part of the process,” said Monterey Regional Airport Executive Director Mike La Pier. “What we don’t have are Customs officers at the airport to inspect and clear passengers and goods. Without the officers to perform the inspection and clearance function, the Port of Entry is dormant and not available for international arrivals.”
La Pier said that the first order of business for the airport is to provide the services that its customers require.
“In this case, there are many corporate international arrivals to MRY ( Monterey Regional Airport) that could realistically clear customs at MRY but are being required to clear at another Port of Entry prior to arrival at MRY,” explained La Pier. “Given the international scope of our agricultural industry as well as hospitality, it makes sense for us to provide this service at MRY.”
La Pier added that it is also good for the environment as well since it has the potential to eliminate a landing and take off of the aircraft at another location, and the target market is to provide this service for the Monterey airport’s existing users.
“The fact that Customs would be available at MRY under this scenario would also potentially assist both the agriculture industry and hospitality in growing their business,” he said.
The goal would be to have people move through customs at Monterey airport.
Most travelers envision U.S. Customs Ports of Entry as something “International” airports, such as San Francisco International Airport or San Jose Mineta International Airport, are equipped to deal with, but La Pier said that “International” in the name of an airport is just that – a name.
“It does not qualify an airport for separate designation or recognition beyond what is implied. No additional grant funds or programs are made available because of the name,” he said. “FAA ( Federal Aviation Administration) simply classifies airports by the categorical ranking, large hub, medium hub, small hub and non-hub based upon passenger traffic.”
Monterey Regional Airport is ranked a non-hub by the FAA and would have to grow its commercial passenger traffic a bit more before it would be considered a small-hub airport.
“Typically small-hub airports host between 350,000 and one million enplanements to be considered a small hub,” said La Pier.
In January, the Monterey airport reported that in 2024 it served 311,101 departing and 311,442 arriving passengers, for a total of 622,543 travelers using Monterey County’s only commercial airport. It marked a milestone in that the airport served more passengers in 2024 than it has at any time in 45 years. It also reflects a 19.5% increase over the previous year.
Regardless of its size or ranking, over the last few years the Monterey Peninsula Airport District has been working with Customs and Border Protection to bring staffing and facilities to Monterey Airport.
“We have had several meetings with Customs and Border Protection officials both regionally and nationally during the process of preparing our application,” said La Pier. “It is important to note that our fixed base operator, Monterey Fuel Company, has been our partner throughout the process and is now on the point in this effort. While the Airport District would enter into an agreement with CBP, Monterey Fuel Company would operate the facilities working closely with CBP.”
But getting the facility and staffing needed for a fully-functioning Monterey airport U.S. Port of Entry is still a ways off as the airport district is not as close to having an agreement as it would like to be.
“For some time now, the focus of CBP has been on illegal immigration and border protection,” said La Pier. “We are patiently waiting for some clarity in that regard and stand ready to engage further with CPB at the appropriate time.”
The Monterey airport now provides nine nonstop markets with an average of 17 daily departures, including second daily nonstop flights added to three destinations — San Diego on Alaska Airlines, Dallas-Fort Worth on American Airlines and Denver on United Airlines. The Monterey airport also offers seasonal nonstop service to Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sun Country Airlines and seasonal nonstop service to Burbank and Orange County on JSX.
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