Great news, up to a point ... It looks as if they've agreed everything but the key sticking point ... the quid quo pro between ownership and LHR access.
To be frank, I've always believed that BA's announced intention to buy AA was really a call for something it knew was never going to happen and thus, to obstruct the whole Open Skies process.
What happens if things don't go according to plan? What if the deal collapses early next year over this point? We in Ireland have already agreed a peculiarly Irish version of Open Skies and as egregious as it is, it's better than nothing and it certainly seems unfair that every other country should be held back because of access to LHR and ownership of US carriers, something the vast majority of carriers aren't remotely interested in.
And what of regional access to LHR once new slots are created? These are already declining and with the likes of BD and BA stripping them down further to add new US routes (one presumes BA will want to bring some of its LGW-US services to LHR?), won't this mean that places like BHD, INV, ABZ, LBA and NCL may be affected?