Italy and the USA are expected to sign their pending open skies bilateral air agreement during a major conference on 6 and 7 December in Chicago on the future of international aviation.
Hosted by the US Department of Transportation, the conference is expected to bring together the transport ministers of some 90 countries to discuss the theme "Aviation in the 21st century - beyond open skies".
The planned date of the formal signing of the US-Italy bilateral is revealed in a joint application by Northwest Airlines, Alitalia and KLM seeking US Department of Transportation permission to code-share on routes linking all their respective home nations as well as other countries.
Italy agreed to and initialled the prospective open skies deal with the USA on 11 November 1998, but made formal signing of the new bilateral conditional upon the US Department of Transportation giving anti-trust immunity to Alitalia's proposed alliance with Northwest Airlines and KLM.
However, the DOT has not yet ruled on the three carriers' joint application seeking US government approval for their tripartite alliance, as well as anti-trust immunity for the partnership.
The three airlines filed that application on 11 May, but despite the fact that it is still pending with the DOT have made their new application to the agency to approve their code-sharing.
Source: Flight Daily News
