Brussels, 12/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - As expected, the Transport Council gave its green light to the extension of the Open Skies agreement between the United States and the EU on the liberalisation of their aviation markets, to include Norway and Iceland. The decision on the signature of the agreement is to be taken at a later date, once the lawyer-linguists of the Council have finished their work. Once it enters into force (one month after the dispatch of the final diplomatic note confirming that all necessary procedures have been completed), the decision will reciprocally extend all provisions of the Open Skies agreement, such as the seventh freedom (the option to operate flights between the United States and countries outside the EU) and the possibility of operating flights between any point of the EU and any point in the United States. The agreement will also allow EU airlines to operate direct links to the United States from airports in Iceland and Norway and will allow Norwegian and Icelandic airlines to do the same from the EU to the United States. An agreement annexed to the decision also guarantees that these two states will be represented by the European Commission on the joint committee set in place in the framework of the agreement. Norway and Iceland, which are members of the common aviation area, applied to join Open Skies in 2007. The Commission presented the proposed extension in May 2009. (A.By./transl.fl)