JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON
Member states' open skies agreements with the USA and other countries deemed illegal
The European Commission (EC) has moved closer to its aim of taking over bilateral air service negotiations for the entire European Union (EU) after the European Court of Justice last week ruled several open skies agreements illegal. The court issued a judgment, broadly in line with its interim guidance issued at the beginning of the year, ruling criteria included in such agreements as "forbidden" under EU law.
The case was brought by the EC against seven EU member states - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden - which all have open skies agreements with the USA, among other countries. A parallel case was brought against the UK, which has a more restricted Bermuda II bilateral with the USA. The EC is considering further cases against France, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal.
The court ruled that the open skies deals infringe the EU's "external competence as regards the community rules on the establishment of air fares and rates on intra-community routes and on computer reservation systems". In addition, all of the deals are illegal, says the court, as they discriminate between carriers operating from the same state.
National governments will have to renegotiate all existing bilateral air service agreements to exclude any clauses restricting airport access to other European carriers.
The EC says the ruling clears the way for it to act on behalf of all EU countries in negotiations with the USA. The EC's transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio says she now considers all existing bilaterals to be "null and void".
The US Department of Transportation says it does not consider the existing bilaterals to be invalidated by the ruling and dismisses it as covering only "two relatively limited areas".
The UK's Department for Transport says, however, that far from leading to joint EU negotiations, the ruling merely makes future air services agreements "subject to certain conditions".
Transport ministry officials in Germany say that until last week their preferred option was to negotiate bilaterals directly, but that by the next summit meeting of European transport ministers on 5 December, Germany's position could change.
Source: Flight International
