Ship and Aircraft Movements

The British Representative is informed of all ship and aircraft movements to/from Diego Garcia

US/UK Exchange of Notes 1976

The 1976 Exchange of Notes requires that: "As regards the use of the facility in normal circumstances, the Commanding Officer and the Officer in Charge of the United Kingdom Service element shall inform each other of intended movements of ships and aircraft. In other circumstances the use of the facility shall be a matter for the joint decision of the two Governments"

On 26 November 2014 a Freedom of Information (FOI 1083-14) request concerning ship and aircraft movements on Diego Garcia was submitted to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office asking for :

• details of agreements that require the United States to inform the British Representative (Brit Rep) of these movements, and
• how the Brit Rep is informed

The FCO responded on 1 October 2015 (FCO response) releasing a number of documents:

• "Flight Controls and Immigration Procedures" dated 29 Jan 2013 (Link)
• "Dipclear Processes Flowchart" (Link)
• Digest of relevant sections of (1) "Diego Garcia Best practices Document" Edition 7 - 29 May 2014, (2) "Foreign Warships Guide" - 31 Mar 2010 (Link)

it also withheld some information on the basis of Defence and International Relations exemptions.

The documents released under FOI show that:

1. Customs and Immigration are the responsibility of UK military personnel. The Senior Customs and Immigration Officer (SCIO) has a staff of 11 (although all have other duties as well).
2. Approximately 200 civilians and 200 military personnel arrive and depart from the DG airport each week.
3. The US Air Mobility Command (AMC) operates up to 5 weekly flights. 3 from Singapore (Paya Lebar airbase) and 2 from Bahrain using DC8 (max passengers 30) and C17 aircraft. The Singapore flights commence in the US and include a stop in Japan.
4. Filipino support staff arrive on chartered planes from Manila roughly every 3 months.
5. Some 3rd country aircraft and ships request diplomatic clearance (Dipclear) - these are cleared by the BIOT Administration in London in consultation with the Ministry of Defence and the Brit Rep.
6. The SCIO is informed of all flights on a daily flight schedule which typically looks 5 days in advance. Daily Occurrence Logs are kept by Customs and Immigration.
7. Ship movements are provided to the Britrep each month (this included the ship name, date, previous and next port of call, and reasons).