Brussels, 29/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - The launch of the second phase of the Open Skies agreement on Thursday 25 March has been given a cool reception by the European industry. International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General Giovanni Bisignani said that it was disappointing that “we did not make significant progress on the issue of ownership” in the preliminary agreement reached between the United States and the EU (see EUROPE 10106). “The agreement was not a step backwards, but it did not move us forward,” he said. “The long-term financial sustainability of the industry is dependent on normal commercial freedoms,” he argued. UK carrier British Airways (BA) was also critical of the agreement. “We had hoped that the conclusion of the second-stage negotiations would have resulted in the immediate removal of restrictions on ownership and control of US airlines,” it said. BA, which, if the agreement is adopted, will not be able to invoke the suspension clause in the first-stage agreement text, called on both sides to “honour the firm commitments they have made in this agreement” to further liberalisation of the transatlantic market. For the airports, Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe (Airports Council International - Europe) said that, although there had been no tangible progress on US restrictions on investment in airlines, the agreement granted “more stability” and “significantly improves” cooperation between the EU and the US. “The enhanced cooperation in the areas of competition, air traffic management, safety and security will benefit the travelling public, our airport members and their communities,” he said. The airports fear, however, that the hoped-for benefits of full liberalisation of the transatlantic air market, for example, in terms of increased passenger numbers (26 million more passengers in five years, the European Commission says) will not be enough to make up for the impact of the financial crisis on the sector.
The second-stage agreement was initialled on Thursday by the delegations from the US, led by John Byerly, and the EU, led by Daniel Calleja. European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said that the two sides had taken “a huge step forward” towards setting up a real airspace between the United States and the EU, a market which already accounts for around 60% of global air passenger traffic. In addition to the reciprocal, but with no agreed timescale, commitments on liberalisation of investment and easing of noise restrictions on flights, the agreement puts in place a number of arrangements to make technical, environmental and safety standards on the US and European markets into line with one another. It brings in a “regulatory convergence” mechanism on competitiveness, state aid and security. It provides for single security control, technical coordination to reduce polluting emissions from aircraft and coordination of environment policies at international level and formalises the AIRE initiative, which seeks to reduce aviation's carbon footprint through better air traffic control (see EUROPE 9448). The EU Council of Ministers is expected to decide on its stance with regard to this issue at eh Transport Council on 24 June. (A.By./transl.rt)