The "commitment to engage in a process towards such reform" was announced as part of the second-stage 'Open Skies' draft agreement yesterday (25 March).
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said both sides had 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".
The EU and US markets together represent almost 60% of global aviation.
The first stage of the 'Open Skies' agreement in 2007 allowed free market access for air services between all 27 member states and the US, but failed to address the key issue of reforming airline ownership and control rules.
Based on the positive experience of its own internal market, the EU has long pressed for the introduction of such reforms elsewhere and argues that they would represent "a key step towards liberating the airline industry from the outdated regulatory constraints in the area of foreign investment that prevent it from acting like any other industry".
But current US laws limit foreign ownership of US airlines to 25%.
According to the draft agreement, the EU will allow majority ownership of EU airlines by US investors and give them additional market access rights to and from the EU. The deal will become operational once the United States has changed its legislation to allow EU investors majority ownership of US airlines.
In economic terms, the creation of an EU-US Open Aviation Area is estimated to be worth up to €12 billion in economic benefits and could create up to 80,000 new jobs, the Commission said in a statement.
Regulatory cooperation
The 2007 agreement created a regulatory platform to address all mutual concerns related to EU-US air services. Yesterday's agreement aims to further strengthen cooperation on green technologies, fuel and air traffic management to decarbonise international aviation.
Negotiators also agreed to ensure the compatibility and interaction of market-based measures, such as aviation emissions trading schemes, to avoid duplication.
