Accord Reached on ‘Open Skies’

The U.S. and European Union tentatively agreed Friday to end restrictions on where airlines can fly to boost competition in the $18-billion transatlantic aviation market.

The accord was reached in Washington after two years of talks. The agreement may take effect as early as October 2006 if all 25 European transport ministers approve, the U.S. and EU said in a joint statement.

The agreement would let European carriers such as Air France-KLM Group fly to the U.S. from any European city, and would remove limits on the number of carriers that can fly between the U.S. and London’s Heathrow Airport, the world’s third-busiest. It also would end restrictions on the types of aircraft that carriers can use and the prices they can charge.

“This agreement would bring nearly 750 million people and 26 countries together to comprise the largest and most lucrative open aviation market ever created,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a statement.

The accord hinges on the completion of a proposed U.S. rule that would give foreign investors more say in managing U.S. airlines, said Daniel Calleja, the European Commission’s director for air transport. That rule is opposed by U.S. unions and 85 members of Congress who wrote Mineta a letter Friday.

European transport ministers will discuss the agreement Dec. 5, then await for the outcome of the U.S. foreign ownership proposal, Calleja said. If the outcome is “positive,” he said he expected that all 25 nations would approve the treaty.

The Bush administration is “going to need to walk a tightrope here between accomplishing its long-standing twin goals of opening up Heathrow and expanding foreign investment without being overridden by Congress,” said David Marchick, a former State Department official.

The U.S. calls such agreements “open skies” treaties and already has them with 15 EU countries. The 10 EU members that don’t have such accords with the U.S. include Britain, Greece, Spain and Ireland.

Friday’s agreement would create a single “open skies” treaty for all EU members.