(a) Scheduled Airline. This term means any individual, partnership, corporation, or association engaged in air transportation upon regular schedules to, over, or away from the United States, or from one place to another in the United States, and holding a Foreign Air Carrier permit or a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued pursuant to the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 731).

(b) International Airport. An international airport is one designated by the Commissioner for the entry of aliens with the prior approval of the Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(c) Landing Rights Airport. An airport, although not designated as international, at which permission to land has been granted to aircraft operated by scheduled airlines by the Commissioner of Customs.

(a) Place of landing. Aircraft carrying passengers or crew required to be inspected under the Act must land at the international air ports of entry enumerated in part 100 of this chapter unless permission to land elsewhere is first obtained from the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the case of aircraft operated by scheduled airlines, and in all other cases from the port director of CBP or other CBP officer having jurisdiction over the CBP port of entry nearest the intended place of landing.

(b) Advance notice of arrival. Aircraft carrying passengers or crew required to be inspected under the Immigration and Nationality Act, except aircraft of a scheduled airline arriving in accordance with the regular schedule filed with the Service at the place of landing, shall furnish notice of the intended flight to the immigration officer at or nearest the intended place of landing, or shall furnish similar notice to the district director of Customs or other Customs officer in charge at such place. Such notice shall specify the type of aircraft, the registration marks thereon, the name of the aircraft commander, the place of last departure, the airport of entry, or other place at which landing has been authorized, number of alien passengers, number of citizen passengers, and the estimated time of arrival. The notice shall be sent in sufficient time to enable the officers designated to inspect the aircraft to reach the airport of entry or such other place of landing prior to the arrival of the aircraft.

(c) Permission to discharge or depart. Aircraft carrying passengers or crew required to be inspected under the Immigration and Nationality Act shall not discharge or permit to depart any passenger or crewman without permission from an immigration officer.

(d) Emergency or forced landing. Should any aircraft carrying passengers or crew required to be inspected under the Immigration and Nationality Act make a forced landing in the United States, the commanding officer or person in command shall not allow any passenger or crewman thereon to depart from the landing place without permission of an immigration officer, unless such departure is necessary for purposes of safety or the preservation of life or property. As soon as practicable, the commanding officer or person in command, or the owner of the aircraft, shall communicate with the nearest immigration officer and make a full report of the circumstances of the flight and of the emergency or forced landing.

Except as otherwise specifically provided in the Immigration and Nationality Act and this chapter, aircraft arriving in or departing from the continental United States or Alaska directly from or to foreign contiguous territory or the French island of St. Pierre or Miquelon shall be regarded for the purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act and this chapter as other transportation lines or companies arriving or departing over the land borders of the United States.

International airports for the entry of aliens shall be those airports designated as such by the Commissioner. An application for designation of an airport as an international airport for the entry of aliens shall be made to the Commissioner and shall state whether the airport: (a) Has been approved by the Secretary of Commerce as a properly equipped airport, (b) has been designated by the Secretary of the Treasury as a port of entry for aircraft arriving in the United States from any place outside thereof and for the merchandise carried thereon, and (c) has been designated by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare as a place for quarantine inspection. An airport shall not be so designated by the Commissioner without such prior approval and designation, and unless it appears to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that conditions render such designation necessary or advisable, and unless adequate facilities have been or will be provided at such airport without cost to the Federal Government for the proper inspection and disposition of aliens, including office space and such temporary detention quarters as may be found necessary. The designation of an airport as an international airport for the entry of aliens may be withdrawn whenever, in the judgment of the Commissioner, there appears just cause for such action.