U.S. and European Union negotiators reached a tentative agreement on easing restrictions on trans-Atlantic airline flights, the U.S. said.
The so-called open-skies agreement “will offer more choice and convenience to American consumers,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters in a statement today.
The U.S. statement came after European Commission officials said earlier today that they would ask EU governments to endorse an open-skies agreement March 22 after U.S. negotiators agreed to investment rights and air access for European carriers.
An agreement would cover 60 percent of world traffic, be worth as much as $15.8 billion and add up to 80,000 new jobs, the commission said. It also would allow airlines based in the EU to make trans-Atlantic flights from any of the bloc’s nations instead of from just their home country, a freedom that would facilitate takeovers in Europe.
