| Author (Person) | Chaffin, Joshua |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Financial Times |
| Series Details | 26.3.10 |
| Publication Date | 26/03/2010 |
| Content Type | News |
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The European Union and US signed a draft agreement in Brussels on the 25 March 2010 on the second stage of an open skies deal to open up access to each other’s airline markets. Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice-President responsible for Transport, welcomed the draft agreement as 'a major step forwards', for a 'second-stage' Open Skies aviation agreement. 'A process has been agreed towards the further expansion and consolidation of the transatlantic aviation market. Both sides have agreed to increase regulatory co-operation, and remove the barriers to market access that have been holding back the development of the world’s most important aviation markets. Building on the success of the 2007 EU-US Open Skies Agreement, this draft deal represents a significant breakthrough in the process of normalising the global airline industry'. In economic terms, the creation of a full EU-US Open Aviation Area has been estimated to be worth up to €12bn in economic benefits and up to 80,000 new jobs. Negotiators also made significant progress in agreeing a new framework for jointly addressing the environmental effects of aviation, as well as advances in the areas of security, competition, and social matters. Vice-President Kallas will submit the draft agreement for approval to the Transport Council in June 2010 under the Spanish Presidency. Article says that the US had rebuffed European efforts to loosen contentious foreign ownership rules protecting US airlines that have been a sticking point in transatlantic aviation negotiations for years. |
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| Subject Categories | Mobility and Transport |
| Countries / Regions | Europe, United States |
