Open Skies Agreement Means TransAtlantic Airways Cleared For Competition

By consumerist.com May 1, 2007

Transatlantic travelers should be treated to lower costs and increased offerings, thanks to the “Open Skies” agreement signed yesterday between the US and the EU.

The historic deal allows any American airline to fly into Europe and any European airline to fly into the states. American planes can also travel between European countries, although European planes can’t travel between US states.

What can we say, pretty sweet. — BEN POPKEN

Open Skies Deal Signed [AP via Upgrade: Travel Better]
(Photo: Ben Popken)

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Comments

  1. Scazza says:
    May 1, 2007 at 2:43 pm

    Not for canadians… stupid deal!

  2. Ben Popken says:
    May 1, 2007 at 3:18 pm

    @Scazza: Canadians have discovered the secret of flight?

  3. timmus says:
    May 1, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    I can see it now: Southwest Airlines peanuts fares to London: $20.

  4. rachmanut says:
    May 1, 2007 at 3:47 pm

    so…ryanair is on its way?

  5. shoegazer says:
    May 1, 2007 at 4:14 pm

    typical one-sided pro-American deal. Why oh why do we still have to put up with American carriers for domestic flights when the opposite isn’t true?

    Apparently the UK transport secretary agrees with me.

    “If a US carrier can operate from New York to London and on to Frankfurt, but an EU carrier can’t operate from London to New York and on to, say, San Francisco, then there remains work to be done.”

  6. Scuba Steve says:
    May 1, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    This is a boon to the college euro-tour trips.

  7. andimal says:
    May 1, 2007 at 4:29 pm

    @shoegazer: Not even a relevant argument. The US is one country, unlike the EU. Just because a block of countries chooses to negotiate as one does not make them the same as a single country. Read up on the various “freedoms of the air.”

  8. pestie says:
    May 1, 2007 at 5:40 pm

    @Ben Popken: My girlfriend’s Canadian, so I know about these things. If you can get a bull moose up to a sufficient speed, its antlers will generate enough lift to get it off the ground. This works best during mating season when they’ve scraped all that fuzz off their antlers, as the fuzz tends to disrupt the laminar airflow over the surface of the antler.

    Glad I could help.

  9. rugger_can says:
    May 1, 2007 at 6:29 pm

    We don’t need this deal. Our rates are usually 5 to 10% lower then US rates already and usually slightly less expensive then EU carriers.

    (We being Canukistanians)

  10. mr.b says:
    May 1, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    isn’t this just a continuation of the same protectionist law that *almost* precluded Branson from starting Virgin American…until he de-Eurofied it a bit?
    http://consumerist.com/consumer/virgin-america/virgin-amer…

    ben, i can understand how this is “pretty sweet” for consumers to the extent that it increases competition. however, it maintains an anti-competitive market domestically, and is thus weak sauce IMHO.

  11. Chese says:
    May 2, 2007 at 7:18 pm

    EU is not a country, American carriers will not be able to sell tickets from destinations within European countries just the same. Fair enough to me!