Britain Still Pressing for Assurances

Britain is still pressing for assurances that a transatlantic aviation deal will benefit EU airlines in U.S. markets.

Britain is pressing a day before a decision by EU transport ministers, a government official said.

Britain has voiced reservations about a draft U.S.-EU "open skies" agreement to liberalise transatlantic air travel. It wants guarantees Washington will negotiate a follow-up deal to give European airlines more freedom in the United States.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said Britain was discussing the draft agreement with the EU's executive Commission, the bloc's German presidency, and the United States.

EU transport ministers meet on Thursday to decide whether to accept the draft agreement.

It would allow European carriers to fly from any EU city to any U.S. city, while easing restrictions on U.S. airlines flying to EU airports -- opening up London's Heathrow where only four airlines offer direct transatlantic flights.

Britain's main long-term demand is that Washington allow foreign airlines to buy control of U.S. carriers, establish airlines in the United States, and fly on domestic U.S. routes.

- The question we want to address is whether there'll be a clear mechanism in place with real incentives on both sides to reach an open market which we judge to be in the interests of all travellers, particularly British consumers and airlines. So that is a matter of continuing discussion - the spokesman said.

- What we want to see is as open a market as possible, real competition on both sides of the Atlantic - he said.

He said a British newspaper report on Wednesday saying Blair had failed to persuade U.S. President George W. Bush to exclude London's Heathrow airport from the deal was "wrong".

Diplomats in Brussels said on Tuesday London had indicated it would not obstruct the "open skies" agreement on Thursday, but would seek a delay in implementing it at Heathrow.

Britain also wants an EU commitment to automatically withdraw concessions made under the pact if Washington does not agree by mid-2010 to allow European airlines to buy control of U.S. carriers, the diplomats said.

They said the European Union would declare a second-phase accord to be "of paramount importance".

BA and Virgin Atlantic, the only European airlines that can fly transatlantic routes from Heathrow under current arrangements, initially attacked the accord negotiated this month by the European Commission.

They said the United States achieved its goal of opening up access to Heathrow without giving ground on the EU's key demand to loosen ownership restrictions on U.S. carriers.

But diplomats said Britain was isolated within the EU, and while it could theoretically veto the pact, it had indicated it would not do so