Custom-Made for Van Nuys

The busiest general aviation airport in the world now is one of the few airfields in the country to offer customs inspections to private jets on international flights. As part of a pilot program by the U.S. Customs Service, Van Nuys Airport provides inspections to well-heeled corporate travelers who previously had to stop over at Los Angeles International Airport before making the final hop to the San Fernando Valley.

Sure, it’s posh treatment--a glimpse at how the other half lives--but it’s also very smart. From crew salaries to property taxes, corporate jets based at Van Nuys--and at Burbank Airport, where the special inspections are also provided--pump millions of dollars a year into the local economy. Despite the noise they generate, the jets are viewed by smart administrators at both airports as cash cows.

As small jets become more advanced and their range increases, they are used more often for long-haul international flights. Flight operators estimate that as many as 300 international flights land each year at Van Nuys and as many as 175 land at Burbank. By comparison, only 120 private jets cleared customs at LAX last year--compared to 5.3 million passengers who cleared after arriving on commercial jets. In the six months since the inspections began in the Valley, 94 have cleared at Van Nuys and 37 at Burbank. Customs officials suspect those numbers are low because not many pilots know about the inspections. A similar program at Chicago’s Palwaukee Municipal Airport--which, like Van Nuys, caters to businesses and general aviation--cleared 400 private flights in the past year.

Far from being a mere luxury for a select few, easier inspections make Van Nuys and Burbank easier places to get into and out of than larger, more congested airfields. That’s attractive to business people and it could help as Valley leaders market the region as a great place to set up shop.