fadec_primary_channel
30th Sep 2003, 00:25
From Airwise.com
Sep 29, 2003
The long-running battle to establish an "open skies" aviation agreement between the US and European countries resumes in Washington this week.
For the first time, however, Europe will be speaking with one voice as the European Union negotiates on behalf of all its member countries.
The shift in emphasis is not expected to bring a swift breakthrough in the search for a more liberal transatlantic agreement. The talks will, more likely, be just the opening shots in an effort to unravel restrictive rules on airlines flying between the US and Europe which have been in place for around 50 years.
A full open skies agreement could lead to US and European airlines gaining access to airports on both sides of the Atlantic.
Existing rules on foreign ownership of airlines in both the US and Europe are also seen as one of the key factors in preventing full scale airline mergers on the two continents.
Both sides have expressed their willingness to seek solutions, but the European Union is expected to ask for greater concessions than the US is at present willing to concede.
A second round of negotiations is scheduled to be held in Brussels in December.
One wonders what will happen this time. There has been much comment on this before on pprune. Most thinking that the early agreements mentioned would involve removing the SNN stop etc all the simple things.
The real meaty subjects involve LHR etc but me thinks this wont be quick !
FPC
:)
Sep 29, 2003
The long-running battle to establish an "open skies" aviation agreement between the US and European countries resumes in Washington this week.
For the first time, however, Europe will be speaking with one voice as the European Union negotiates on behalf of all its member countries.
The shift in emphasis is not expected to bring a swift breakthrough in the search for a more liberal transatlantic agreement. The talks will, more likely, be just the opening shots in an effort to unravel restrictive rules on airlines flying between the US and Europe which have been in place for around 50 years.
A full open skies agreement could lead to US and European airlines gaining access to airports on both sides of the Atlantic.
Existing rules on foreign ownership of airlines in both the US and Europe are also seen as one of the key factors in preventing full scale airline mergers on the two continents.
Both sides have expressed their willingness to seek solutions, but the European Union is expected to ask for greater concessions than the US is at present willing to concede.
A second round of negotiations is scheduled to be held in Brussels in December.
One wonders what will happen this time. There has been much comment on this before on pprune. Most thinking that the early agreements mentioned would involve removing the SNN stop etc all the simple things.
The real meaty subjects involve LHR etc but me thinks this wont be quick !
FPC
:)