More Heathrow flights with Open Skies
[28th March 2008]
Open Skies comes into force on 30 March allowing any EU or US airline to fly between the EU and US and increasing the number of flights from Heathrow and other UK airports to the USA.
Before Open Skies only four airlines - BA, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and United Airlines - have been able to fly from Heathrow to the US. Now other EU and US airlines will be able to offer flights subject to being able to secure one of the coveted slots at Heathrow.
US airlines Continental, Delta and Northwest, which are all part of the SkyTeam alliance, will all start flights from Heathrow to the US. Continental Airlines will offer a twice-daily flight from Heathrow to Houston. Delta begins twice-daily flights from Heathrow to New York JFK, and Northwest Airlines commences daily flights from Heathrow to Detroit, Minneapolis and Seattle. All these airlines will be based at Terminal 4.
Thanks to Open Skies, any EU airline will be able to offer flights from anywhere in the EU to the US. Air France is starting daily flights from Heathrow to Los Angeles. British Airways is launching a new airline, OpenSkies, initially offering flights from Brussels and Paris to New York. And low cost airline Ryanair is believed to be interested in launching new transatlantic flights.
Open Skies could also see US airlines attempting to buy into European airlines. Under the agreement US airlines can acquire a stake of up to 49% in an EU airline. In contrast, at present EU airlines can only take a 25% stake in US airlines.
The hope is that increased competition will lead to lower air fares for passengers flying from the UK to the USA. But with record fuel prices it seems unlikely there will be any bargain flights to the US for a while yet.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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