'Open skies': round five

EU and US negotiators will on Monday try to forge ahead with tricky talks on creating an 'open skies' aviation pact.

Both sides have been trying to strike a deal that would open up decades-old regulations and liberalise the global airline industry.

But progress at the fifth round of talks is going to be difficult as key EU demands like improved US market access are still unresolved.

Washington pledged to bring US policy in line with EU rules on foreign ownership by allowing non-EU nationals to own up to 49 per cent of a US airline, up from the current 25 per cent.

And US transportation secretary Norman Mineta said Washington had made a major concession in accepting the concept of a "European airline" meaning Lufthansa for example, could fly from any EU airport to the US.

However the US rejected any possibility of allowing foreign carriers to add internal flights to their US routes ('cabotage'), in competition with American carriers.

US concessions in cabotage are the main demand of commission negotiators, led by EU transport chief Loyola de Palacio.

While Washington is keen to have the first phase of the deal signed and sealed by June, the Europeans are wary of quick-fix deal that is unsatisfactory.

"We have a very difficult and complex round of negotiations coming up. There is still a big gap between both sides," an aviation expert from the European side told EUpolitix.

"So far the US have given us peanuts and are very close to getting what they want."

"There is also time pressure on the EU to reach a deal quickly. We want the commission to come up the right agreement."

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