The European Commission has won the right to negotiate an EU-US 'open skies' deal in a bid to free up air travel between the world's two biggest aviation markets.
The Commission was delighted to finally receive the negotiating mandate from a meeting of EU transport ministers in Luxembourg following a landmark European Court of Justice ruling in November.
'This is an historic decision,' said EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio.
November's ruling by the EU's top court struck down bilateral 'open skies' accords agreed by eight EU member states with Washington, leaving the way open for a new Europe-wide agreement with the US.
The Court of Justice said the bilateral deals were illegal, notably because they gave the national airlines covered by the deals an unfair advantage over other European carriers.
But the US government had insisted that the existing accords remained in force as the court ruling had not explicitly upheld the European Commission's sole right to negotiate a new open skies deal.
The transport ministers' decision means Washington can no longer put up this argument, placing it under pressure to throw open its skies to all EU airlines.
De Palacio said she planned to launch open skies negotiations at annual EU-US summit talks on June 25.
