'Ciel ouvert' : Le Royaume-Uni obtient gain de cause[en] 

After more than four years of stilted negotiations, EU and US negotiators reached an agreement on 2 March 2007 that would allow EU airlines to fly to the US from any European airport, regardless of their home country, and remove restrictions on US airlines flying to Europe (for further details, see EurActiv 05/03/07). 

The need for a deal was pressing, since the European Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that the current network of bilateral agreements between EU countries and the US was incompatible with EU law and that a single pact was needed. 

A previous package deal, outlined in November 2005, was sunk in December 2006 when the US Congress opposed provisions that would make it easier for foreign companies to invest in and operate American airlines. 

A diplomatic row was averted on 22 March when the Council of transport ministers unanimously backed the 'open skies' agreement that had been crafted weeks before by Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot. 

Britain – which accounts for 40% of transatlantic air traffic – had previously opposed the deal, as it forces the country to open up the lucrative route between London's Heathrow Airport and the US to airlines other than the four currently permitted to serve the route (BA, Virgin, American Airlines and United). 

Nevertheless, it agreed to the accord, after winning backing from the 26 other ministers for a delay in its application. 

The delay – until 30 March 2008 – will give Heathrow airport time to finish building its new terminal, thereby increasing its capacity to welcome new companies. 

It should also give some relief to British Airways, which currently gets 60% of its revenues from operating the transatlantic route and is incensed about having to give up its part-monopoly in exchange for only limited opportunities to operate and invest in the US. 

The agreement contains a “suspension clause” that commits the US to taking further steps towards opening up its domestic market and loosening its rules on foreign investment and ownership by mid-2010. 

Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said he was "delighted" by the unanimous backing from the Council. "This confidence and unity means that the European side enters the next phase of negotiations with the United States in a strong position," he said. 

Asked about whether progress could be made towards a second-stage deal, a spokesman from the US Mission to the EU told EurActiv: "Mr Barrot says that he's confident." 

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) said the agreement was "good news for passengers" but added: "The immediate commercial advantages of this agreement for airlines are difficult to assess at this stage." 

British Airways  chiief executive Willie Walsh said that the deal would "deliver short- term gains for the subsidised American aviation industry". He warned: "With the EU having given away their most valuable negotiating asset - Heathrow - the UK government must stand by its pledge to withdraw traffic rights if the US does not deliver further liberalisation by 2010." 

Sylviane Lust, director general of the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) said: "This agreement is a way off from the original plans for an Open Aviation Area trumpeted four years ago by the European Commission. The Commission’s shopping list for the second phase negotiations remains substantial while the US side has obtained everything it wanted in the first phase," adding: "A deal between the EU and US can only be balanced if it results in equal traffic rights for EU and US airlines in each other’s internal markets, identical ownership limits and control possibilities, as well as equivalent access to governmental traffic." 

Olivier Jankovec, director-general of Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE) said that the deal would "open new opportunities and bring valuable economic benefits for airports around Europe", but added: "We must not stop here." 

Jos Dings, director of the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) said the deal was a serious setback to the EU climate policy, because it preserved "a decades-old prohibition of fuel taxation on transatlantic flights, the most important measure for reducing emissions from the sector". 

He said: "Just two weeks after the EU announced major new climate targets, it has given away airspace to American carriers but hasn't gained a clear mandate to combat emissions from those flights."