The Italian Aerospace Information Web
by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)

Atlantic upheaval

The European Union Advocate General proposed recently that the EU Court of Justice should declare ordinary bilateral open skies agreements contrary to community law. At the same time, due to exaggerated traffic rights requests by the US Department of Transportation, the talks for the overdue alliance between British Airways and American Airlines collapsed. For this reason also the renewal of UK/US open skies overall bilateral agreement was frozen.

The Advocate General's opinion paves the way for the EU, by pooling the negotiating power of all Member States, to negotiate a single deal with the US, leading to more competition and efficiency on trans-Atlantic routes. The previous system to establish bilateral agreements essentially gave airlines from one Member State unfair competitive advantages over airlines from other Member States, in particular, by allocating air traffic rights to foreign destinations on the basis of nationality. This conflicts with the essence of the European Internal Air Transport Market of 1992, which gave all EU airlines equal rights under the law. As another consequence, at the moment US airlines have significant access to the domestic European market without granting rights of equivalent value for all European airlines in the United States.

It is envisaged that a comprehensive EU/USA open skies agreement will increase the number of European airports directly engaged in regular transatlantic services. Airports located near national capitals and the few others declared as hubs by local flag carriers will no longer have exclusive rights for air connections to the USA but the market should be open to commercial opportunities offered by other air terminals.

Boeing B.747-4Q8 G-VTOP "Austin Powered" of British carrier Virgin Atlantic. The "No way BA/AA" inscription on the rear fuselage side was a clear statement against the possibility of a British Airways/American Airlines alliance. (photo by Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, February 2002)