This January the Italian Government will select the first carriers to fly to the USA under the first stage of the phased open skies agreement signed between the two countries in November.
The new air services agreement allows for one daily return service out of the USA and another out of Italy to start in April. It precedes a fully blown open skies agreement, due to be in place during 1999, following the approval by US regulators of the Alitalia-KLM-Northwest alliance.
Lauda Air has applied to run services between Milan Malpensa and Orlando, while and Air Europe is looking for Venice to New York. Air One is also due to make a bid, but has yet to specify which routes it plans to launch. From the US side, American Airlines has applied for Chicago-Rome, Delta Air Lines for Atlanta-Rome and Tower Air wants a New York-Rome service.
As predicted, the Italian bilateral follows the pattern set by France when it successfully secured a phased deal with US negotiators rather than immediate open skies.
The European Commission is meanwhile fighting a rearguard action to have such new bilaterals outlawed, claiming they interfere with Europe's internal single air market. An official says that the EC is now examining the Italian deal to see whether it too offends.
Source: Airline Business
