U.S.– EU Air Service Negotiations - Open Sky
Excerpt from recent ALPA communication:
"On Thursday and Friday of last week, ALPA representatives met with the fact-finding team that has been tasked by the European Commission with exploring airline labor concerns arising out of the ongoing U.S.–European Union (EU) air service negotiations."
This reminded me of a 20 minute news piece I saw approx. 3 months before Phase 1 of the Open Skies agreement went into effect. I was in Paris on a layover and the program I saw was similar to a Dateline or 20/20 show. In this 20 minute segment were interviews with the head of Ryan Air, Richard Branson from Virgin and the equivalent of the head of the FAA for the EU.
I watched the entire piece which said Phase 1 would go into effect (which it did in March of 08) followed by Phase 2 approximately 2 years later. Phase 1 was lopsided because it favored the US and handed U.S. carriers their main wish of gaining unlimited access to London Heathrow airport. This was achieved through allowing EU and U.S. carriers to fly from any point in the United States to any point in the European Union.
Phase Two is scheduled for introduction by November 2010 but has yet to be agreed upon, and the European Union wants to achieve its two principal aims of loosening restrictions on foreign ownership of airlines and allowing onward services within the United States.
Most airline pilots in the US are fully aware of the Open Skies agreement and it's potential implications to our career. As a group I think we can agree that we don't want Open Skies in the US. However after watching this news piece while across the pond in Europe I found out that Phase 1 is part of a building block approach. If Phase 2 isn't passed then Phase 1 will be rescinded by the EU. After watching the interviews of the above 3 mentioned individuals they felt that Phase 2 was a forgone conclusion. They sounded so matter-of-fact about it that it concerned me. Do they know something that we don't know. Has the train already left the station? Have deals already been cut behind closed doors and the two parties are simply going through the motions?