EU–US Open Skies Agreement

The EU–US Open Skies Agreement is an open skies air transport agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US). The agreement allows any airline of the European Union and any airline of the United States to fly between any point in the European Union and any point in the United States. Both EU and US airlines are allowed to fly on to a further destination in another country after their initial stop (Fifth Freedom rights). Because the EU is not treated as a single territory for the purposes of the agreement, this means in practice that US airlines can fly between two points in the EU as long as that flight is the continuation of a flight that started in the US (e.g. New York - Paris - Berlin). Airlines of the EU are also allowed to fly between the US and non-EU countries that are part of the European Common Aviation Area, like Switzerland. EU and US airlines can operate all-cargo flights under Seventh Freedom rights, meaning US airlines' all-cargo flights can be operated from one EU country to any other country (including another EU country) and EU airlines' all-cargo flights can operate between the US and any other country. Norway and Iceland acceded to the Agreement from 2011 and their airlines enjoy the same rights as EU airlines.

The treaty disappointed European airlines as they felt it was tilted in favour of United States airlines: while US airlines are allowed to operate intra-EU flights (if this is an all-cargo flight or a passenger flight if it is the second leg of a flight started in the US), European airlines are not permitted to operate intra-US flights nor are they allowed to purchase a controlling stake in a US operator. The Agreement replaced and superseded previous open skies agreements between the US and individual European countries.

The initial agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., on 30 April 2007. The agreement became effective 30 March 2008. Phase two was signed in June 2010 and it has been applied provisionally, pending ratification by all signatories.

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