EU approves 'open skies' agreement with the US

23 Mar 2007

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Brussels: European Union transport ministers approved an aviation agreement with the US yesterday that will allow all EU and US airlines to fly to-and-from anywhere within their respective unions. The deal is slated to end decades of national protection for transatlantic airlines.

Jacques Barrot, the European Commission's transport commissioner, and also the driving force behind the agreement, said: "The deal is of great political and economic importance. I am delighted to have piloted this agreement to its destination."

The deal opens up an aviation market that has been closed for decades by agreements between individual countries and America, governing which airlines fly to specific destinations.

The deal, though unanimously approved, was struck only after the UK Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander, won a concession that will allow EU countries to withdraw the rights granted to the US if it refused to open up its domestic market by 2010 and also allow EU airlines to take control of their US counterparts.

Alexander also wrangled another concession that would allow Britain to delay the implementation of the deal, from October 28 to March 30 next year. This is to allow Heathrow more time to prepare for the opening up of its facilities to take on additional flights. At present, only four airlines are allowed to fly between Heathrow and the US.

The deal should now see airfares between Europe and the United States fall as more airlines compete for transatlantic flights. According to Barrot, a surge in passengers flying across the Atlantic, from the current 50 million to 75 million in five years, should see consumers collectively end up enjoying more than £8 billion of economic benefits as increased competition between airlines brings down ticket prices.

The EU has also forecast that 80,000 jobs would be created in Europe and America as a result of the deal.

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