The number of scheduled flights from Europe to the United States will grow by nearly 10 percent in April, compared with the same period last year, according to scheduled passenger airline data pulled by flight information provider OAG earlier this month. April represents the first full month in which transatlantic carriers operate under the first phase of the U.S.-EU Open Skies bilateral agreement, which goes into effect March 31.
According to OAG, 11,272 commercial transatlantic flights will depart from airports in Europe to the United States in April, growing from the same period in 2007 by 1,019 scheduled departures.
Of those new flights or frequencies coming into service, London Heathrow Airport will see the greatest spike in transatlantic traffic next month, as many carriers have made the European gateway the focal point of Open Skies-enabled initiatives
(BTNonline, March 17).
Flights from London Heathrow represent more than 50 percent of new European departures to the United States that will be in service next month, as 524 new monthly transatlantic services from Heathrow that did not exist in April 2007 will be in operation. More than half of Heathrow's transatlantic departure growth will come from the U.S.-based legacy carriers—Continental, Delta, Northwest and US Airways—that were prohibited from the airport prior to the Open Skies agreement.
OAG's Analytical Services team said London Heathrow "is certainly enjoying the bulk of new services" enabled by Open Skies in the first month of the treaty's enactment, as growth from other major European hubs "virtually all are down to capacity growth, or new services operated by the domicile carrier."
Compared with April 2007, 91 additional departures will leave from Frankfurt Airport next month to the United States, as will 50 more from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and 163 more from Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Despite the growth, carriers already allowed to serve the United States from those airports will operate those flights.
Many in the industry expect the Open Skies agreement to spark additional capacity, increase competition and lower transatlantic fares, though the depth of impact remains undetermined
(BTNonline, April 2, 2007). The European Commission and the U.S. Department of Transportation last week said they jointly will research the impact Open Skies has on the marketplace, specifically focusing on "airline alliances, the effect of alliances on airline competition, and possible changes in the role of alliances," the EC and DOT said this month. DOT and EC said they plan to issue a final report in mid-2009.
The EC and DOT said they would interview such stakeholders as airlines, travel agencies, analysts and travel organizations in the course of the next year. "The research project eventually will allow the Commission and DOT to cooperate more effectively based on a common understanding of competition in transatlantic markets and inform public discussions of the future of air transportation," the governmental bodies said in a statement.