Luxembourg, June 05: The European Commission won the right today to negotiate an EU-US "open skies" accord in a long-sought bid to free up air travel between the world's two biggest aviation markets. The European Union's executive arm was delighted finally to receive the negotiating mandate from a meeting of EU transport ministers in Luxembourg following a landmark European Court of Justice ruling in November.
"This is an historic decision," said EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio.
"Today, we have reached a deal that will enable the European Union to assert itself at international level and to work for the benefit of its consumers and its aviation industry," she said.
November's ruling by the EU's top court struck down bilateral "open skies" accords agreed by eight EU member states with Washington, leaving the way open for a new Europe-wide agreement with the United States.
The Court of Justice said the bilateral deals were illegal notably because they gave the eligible national airlines an unfair advantage over other European carriers.
The eight EU countries that have signed agreements with Washington are Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden.
The deals meant that a European airline had to be majority-owned by, for instance, British interests if it wanted to fly between London Heathrow and US airports, effectively shutting out other European carriers. Bureau Report