Open Skies agreement 'won't fly'[fr][de] 

United States law currently requires that US airlines are effectively controlled by US citizens. Rules requesting that US citizens own or control at least 75% of the shareholders’ voting interest, and that the president and two-thirds of the directors and the managing officers must be US citizens, have prevented European and other investors from claiming a stake in US airlines, even though that industry is in urgent need of such financing. 

The issue is being debated as part of the planned 'Open Skies' agreement, which would also include a deal to allow European and US airlines to take-off and land at any airport on both sides of the Atlantic and to liberalise their price schemes. In a docket published on 5 December 2006, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters withdrew a set of amendements that would have losened the requirement for a US management quota for airlines. 

In doing so, she reacted to growing support, following the US Congress mid-term elections, for a bill tabled by Democrat Senators Frank Lautenberg and Daniel K. Inouye to block the more liberal rules. Lautenberg said: "Letting foreign entities control our nation’s airlines is a dangerous proposition. The Bush administration saw that the Democratic Congress will not put up with this bad idea and backed off."

Peters' Department of Transportation delcared: "The proposal being withdrawn would have narrowed the scope of our inquiry in such cases to those core matters affecting compliance with U.S. requirements affecting safety, security, national defense and corporate governance." She added: "Nobody doubts the benefits to travelers, airlines and our economy of making it easier to fly to and from Europe. The department needs to do more to inform the public, labour groups and Congress about the benefits of allowing more international investment."