EU, US ready for open skies agreement
03 Mar 2007
European and US negotiators have struck an open skies agreement, a first of its kind, which has been hailed by the European Commission as being a 'decisive progress'.
The agreement will expand transatlantic travel by allowing unobstructed access for airlines to airspace over the 27-member EU bloc and the US. The deal would also replace bilateral agreements between the US and EU countries.
A US State department spokesman called the deal 'very positive', and said it would likely be presented at an upcoming EU-US summit in May. He said that the deal was important not only for the airline industry, but also for millions of passengers that transit back and forth between the United States and EU countries.
Crucially, the provisional deal also covers ownership and control rights over US airlines by EU investors and also allows the EU to restrict US investment in European airlines, the commission said. This has been a major sticking point between the two sides in earlier talks.
EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said that the breakthrough agreement could be worth up to 12 billion euros ($15.8 billion) in economic benefits and could also lead to the creation of up to 80,000 jobs. If approved by EU transport ministers at a meeting later this month, Barrot said, the deal would go into force in October.
The agreement possibly marks a climb down by the US, which backed off from the talks most recently in December, after it refused to back a plan which gave European airlines more freedom to invest in US airlines as well as the right to participate in management decisions. The EU had made the investor rule a condition for putting in place the agreement.
The European commission has said that it expects transatlantic travel to increase by 34 per cent, to 26 million people annually, in the coming years. It is estimated that air travel in Europe and the US alone accounts for 60 per cent of global air traffic.
