EU/US Open Skies
Just saw in this morning's Sunday Times that the EU and US sides are supposed to have a meeting in September to try and get the whole Open Skies thing back on track. Plan is to have a meeting in October. Some say a deal could be done by year end, but there seems to be too much to be done to make that a reality.
As far as Ireland is concerned, it's a fairly straightforward affair: more US access and no more stopover, but the key obstacle is LHR and that will prove much more difficult to solve.
As stated above (and from a quote by the minister), there is wriggle room; the govt can do a mini-deal with the US to correct competitive disadvantages in the current Irish bilateral, but there doesn't seem to be any intention of doing so. The problem for the govt is that if it has plans to privatise EI, which of course it does, then the longer it waits, the more difficult things will become. Trying to privatise EI without the whole North Atlantic access business sorted out (US definitely, but preferably Canada as well) is foolish.
The problem, as mentioned above, is that in the absence of any certainty, it becomes incredibly difficult to plan for fleet additions. The big problem with the govt's continuing unwillingness to assist in this matter is that the most desirable aircraft - A332s and 777s - are very difficult to come by; if the airline could just be given a date (say April 2006) when it might be allowed to add new US markets. The irony is that the failure to face this issue head on is going to lower the value of Aer Lingus and what the govt is going to get for its shareholding.