Open Skies Accord with Europe

The new U.S.-European Union Air Transport Agreement will go into effect on March 30. The agreement will replace all existing bilateral agreements between the United States and EU member states and will establish an Open-Skies Plus framework between the United States and all 27 EU members. Once implemented, every U.S. carrier will be able to fly to every city in the 27 European Union member states and every EU carrier will be able to fly to any city in the United States. EU airlines have not won the right to operate intra-U.S. flights.

The Agreement will authorize every U.S. and every EU airline to:

• fly between any city in the 27-member European Union and every city in the United States;
• operate without restriction on the number of flights, aircraft, and routes;
• set fares according to market demand; and
• enter into cooperative arrangements, including codesharing, franchising, and leasing.

Among the destinations most affected will be London's Heathrow airport, which under previous agreements allows only four airlines—British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American, and United—to fly between Heathrow and the U.S. Northwest, Continental, and Delta all plan to establish a presence at Heathrow under the new liberalization policy.

Detroit will have new Heathrow service from Northwest Airlines starting this spring, and the airline plans to launch daily Heathrow flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul and Seattle.

-- Stanley Pfrang