COPA seeks feedback on cross-border flights

As reported in the COPA Newsletter last month, CANPASS custom clearance privileges for private and corporate aircraft flying into Canada have been suspended. However, telephone reporting is still required. All private and corporate aircraft must follow the procedures for telephone reporting when flying into Canada. Travellers will be redirected, by a telephone reporting centre (TRC), to staffed customs locations.
Procedures for telephone reporting are as follows:
1/ Call the TRC, Tel.: 888-226-7277 at least one hour, but no more than 72 hours, before departure to Canada.
2/ Land at an airport identified by customs during the specified hours of operation.
3/ Make a second call to the TRC, 888-226-7277, on arrival.
A new list of airports that provide customs airport of entry services can be found on COPA’s Web site: www.copanational.org.  Click on “Flying in Canada,” then “Canada Customs.”
COPA is interested in hearing from pilots experiencing difficulty when flying into Canada under the new procedures. If you experience significant delays in telephone answering or in Customs clearance, please send an E-mail to: ahunt@copanational.org. Please specify the date, time, place and nature of the problem. These reports will be used to work with Canada Customs to improve the system. Meetings are scheduled with the Air Transport Association of Canada and the Canadian Business Aircraft Association, whose air taxi and corporate members are affected along with COPA’s members. We will prepare a joint submission to the government in favour of expanding the number of clearance airports initially and re-instating CANPASS eventually.