Important explanation from the European Commission to my letter

[mm_flynn]

After some digging I found this, which is the letter outlining the EU's concerns with regard to changes implemented by the US.

My take on this is

1. There is a big issue on the airline side where the US still requires US airlines to be 'US' thus limiting the ability of EU airlines to buy US airlines
2. There is a big issue where the EU wants any grant of immunity from monopoly prosecution to be long term but the US wants the immunity to sunset after three years
3. There are some rather more technical issues on inspecting maintenance operations that have already been discusssed
4. There is actually no bilateral recongition of pilot licences in this agreement - only a hope that in the future the agreement would be extended to include such recognition

As an aside, the EU Ambassador pegs at $30,000 the cost to the repair station of a single EASA repair station inspection! Wow!!

Overall, I wouldn't hold my breath on this one being sorted quickly