Half-open skies

摘要

At first sight it looked like an historic breakthrough for free trade in aviation. After ten years of trying, negotiators in Washington agreed on November 18th to press ahead with an "open-skies" deal liberalising air traffic between the European Union and the United States. Since these two markets together account for more than half of world traffic, this would be a great achievement. But, while the Washington deal would be a big step forward, genuinely "open skies" are still some way off.