Diesel8 et al,
The land of the free. Home of capitalism.
Scared of some competition?
Afraid you might be bested by some "johnny foreigner" airline?
You asked about "benefits to the US" but you seem to mean "benefits to the US airline industry". The benefits to the US will be in a better product. I am not saying that the US product is inferior to that in the EU. I am saying that in this industry competition breeds a better product. I also believe the product in the EU will improve greatly as well.
The only ones to lose out will be those companies who cannot compete and to be honest that is no bad thing on either side of the pond.
On a seperate thread I expressed a preference for travelling with BA as opposed to Ryanair. I am in the minority though. Whatever else is said about the low cost carriers , they know how to move with the times and they make money. Surely that can only be a good thing in the long run.
Or is this another of those "special" US things? Like the winners of the Superbowl are "World Champions" and in baseball it is the World Series despite in one case no non-US team can participate and in the other they let the odd Canadian team in IIRC.
Cheers
BHR