The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is marketing Dublin and Shannon airports as potential hubs for low-cost transatlantic flights in the hope of cashing in on the introduction of the Open Skies arrangement between the US and Europe.

The airports are promoting the fact that they are planning to open full US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspection posts by early 2010 to potential new customers.

The move will mean that passengers departing from the two airports will be able to fly directly to secondary domestic airports in the US, which lack the facilities for immigration and customs clearance.

"The presence of CBP will be used to entice long-haul Middle Eastern and Asian carriers to hub through the Irish airports and thereby allow their passengers full immigration and customs preclearance in Ireland, " said a DAA spokesman.

Dublin and Shannon will be the only airports with these facilities in Europe. The only similar facilities outside the US are in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

The presence of the facilities is likely to be particularly beneficial to Shannon, which is trying to retain its long-haul business despite the forthcoming end of the Shannon stopover.

Its efforts were damaged last week, however, by American Airlines' confirmation that it plans to end its transatlantic service to Shannon in October.

Ryanair, whose chief executive Michael O'Leary is planning to launch a low-cost transatlantic carrier, has poured scorn on the DAA's attempts to promote CBP to airlines.

"My understanding is that CBP is completely useless and the American airlines have told the DAA they don't want it. The only one who will benefit from it is US immigration and no one else, " said Ryanair's head of regulatory affairs, Jim Callaghan.

"We're looking at the possibilities now you have Open Skies when you can do it from a number of member states, not just Ireland."