An era of more choice and cheaper flights for travellers has been predicted by EU transport ministers who yesterday signed a landmark deal to liberalise transatlantic air services.
The agreement sweeps away existing national restrictions that limit the number of destinations which EU and US airlines can serve on transatlantic routes.
The European Commission predicts that the deal will boost the number of transatlantic passengers by 50 per cent to 75 million people in five years and lead to consolidation in the airline industry.
"The deal is of great political and economic importance . . . I am delighted to have piloted this agreement to its destination with all passengers still on board," transport commissioner Jacques Barrot, who chaired negotiations on behalf of the EU, said yesterday.
The agreement, which follows several years of tough negotiations between the EU and the US, is due to take effect from March 30th, 2008. Irish consumers, however, should benefit almost immediately from the accord, which enables a transitional arrangement on new routes agreed last year between the US and Ireland to take immediate effect.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said Aer Lingus had informed the Government that it planned to offer three more transatlantic routes, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington, in September and October this year.
Further expansion by Aer Lingus and other airlines is expected once the Open Skies deal comes into effect, he said.
The deal will mean the phasing out of the Shannon stopover which, under the Irish-US bilateral air services agreement, forced a certain number of flights to land at the airport. Over the next 12 months the number of transatlantic flights landing at Shannon will be reduced from a ratio of 1/1 to Dublin and Shannon to 3/1, before being finally abolished when the Open Skies deal takes effect next spring.
Mr Cullen said the new EU-US agreement would offer opportunities to Irish airports, including Shannon, to exploit the US market. He said pre-immigration clearance for the US at Shannon gave it an economic advantage. The Government is also finalising an economic and tourism development plan for the Shannon region.
Agreement was reached yesterday when Britain dropped its opposition to the Open Skies agreement after achieving a five-month delay in its implementation.
EU ministers had wanted the deal to take effect in November 2007. However, British concerns over congestion at Heathrow airport were accepted by other ministers.
Existing restrictions preventing European airlines from buying control of US airlines will not be lifted under the deal.