Negotiators began a new round of talks today on the Open Skies treaty between the European Union and the United States. These negotiations have failed in the past. The main sticking point has been foreign ownership in U.S. airlines…which the EU expects to be resolved before they will complete the agreement.
Open Skies would allow any US or EU based airline to fly between any city in the US and any city in the EU. The issue of allowing European carriers to fly between cities in the US is also a point of discussion.
We are in favor of a free market economy. There is nothing that should stop a carrier from flying from anywhere in the US to the EU if there is a demand for it, and the flight meets the conditions set out by the US Department of Transportation and its European counterparts for flight approval. We seriously doubt it will undermine US carriers…although it will mean more competition on the Atlantic, which will negate the advantages of the current trend of moving more capacity from domestic to international service.