US offers UK weaker 'Open Skies' after Brexit
The number of flights between the UK and the US could go down post-Brexit after America's newly proposed "Open Skies" agreement was seen as being worse than the one currently in place.
Negotiations between British and American officials hit a wall over the weekend when the US offered standard access rights for airlines such as British Airways and Virgin due to them being majority owned by non-British and American firms.
But UK transport officials claimed on Monday that discussions had been going well with good progress having been made by both sides.
The EU/US Open Skies agreement, originally instituted ten years ago in order to create uniform rules and regulations for airlines and airports, has led to an increase of around 18% in transatlantic traffic between 2006 and 2016.
The agreement allows all EU and US airlines to travel between any airport in the European Union or the United States; however, US negotiators offered the UK only a standard bilateral agreement for after Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.
But standard agreements usually necessitate that airlines be majority owned and operated by groups from their home country, of which British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are not - leading to fears that flights could potentially be affected moving forward as landing rights for bilateral deals generally only apply to fixed destinations for a fixed number of flights per week.
House of Lords member Mark Malloch-Brown referred to the deal as a "rude but overdue wake-up call".
He said, "The US think we now have less clout than larger regional blocs in trade negotiations. It's all about market size and Britain has opted for reduction surgery."
"Trump will always put America First and our position is at the back of the queue. We are flying blind here with Theresa May's shambolic Brexit plans," he concluded.
However, a Department for Transport representative said, "Our discussions with the US about a new UK-US air service agreement have been positive and we have made significant progress. Both sides want to conclude these discussions soon."
"All parties have a shared interest in ensuring that existing rights will continue under the new bilateral arrangements, allowing airlines on both sides of the Atlantic to continue to operate existing services as well as to seek to develop new ones."