Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH
LUFTHANSA SAYS that it will apply "immediately" for anti-trust immunity for its alliance with United Airlines, following the signature of a preliminary open-skies agreement between the USA and Germany.
German transport minister Matthias Wissman and his US counterpart Federico Pe¤a reached an accord after months of negotiations. The agreement is expected to lead to full liberalisation of transatlantic traffic in the second- biggest market in Europe.
The accord was welcomed as "...a model for the further liberalisation of European air traffic" by Lufthansa chairman Jrgen Weber. The initial accord proposes lifting restrictions on the number and frequency of flights for US and German carriers, and on pricing and codesharing.
These are contained in the current temporary German/US bilateral. The pact may also liberalise cargo services.
Negotiations on a detailed text for the agreement will begin on 22 February in Washington, and are expected to be completed in March at the latest.
The final agreement should be signed by the third quarter, says the transport ministry.
Germany will only sign a final agreement if the Lufthansa/United alliance is granted the anti-trust immunity which the two airlines want. Once confirmed, the immunity "...should allow both [airlines]...to harmonise their businesses better", says Wissman.
Lufthansa says that the agreement, combined with anti-trust immunity, will "...broaden the possibilities" for its co-operation with United, but says that it cannot discuss contractual details yet.
To date, the only transatlantic partnership with immunity of this kind is in the KLM/Northwest Airlines alliance.
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), which started co-operation with Lufthansa at the beginning of this year, is set to bring its own codesharing alliance with United into play in March. While the agreements are said to be independent, the deal opens up the possibility of a future tripartite transatlantic alliance - Sweden already has an open-skies deal with the USA, and SAS says that it may apply for anti-trust immunity for its alliance with United.
The European Commission (EC) says that the prospective agreement with Germany underlines the need for a mandate allowing it to negotiate for all 15 European Union member states in future, adding that the German Government "...could have kept [the EC] better informed" about its negotiations with the USA.
"We are in favour of open skies, but it should at least be done according to rules which are free, fair and transparent," says the EC.
In 1995, the Clinton Administration concluded open-skies agreements with Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Previously, the USA and the Netherlands had agreed to expand air services.
Source: Flight International
