"Open Skies" Agreements – It’s a Good Thing Congress is Not Involved

The U.S. entered into a new round of negotiations this week with the E.U. for “open skies” air transport agreements. These agreements govern the terms of air traffic rights between U.S.-based and E.U. based-carriers, and the intention is to liberalize these rules so that air carriers can fly to directly to more cities on each side. In other words, more direct flights to more places. This could only be a good thing. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to take Lufthansa from NY to San Francisco.

Air transport seems to be an area that could use more, rather than less, international coordination. Even the WSJ($) editorial page seems to think so. There is the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention) but the important agreements appear to be bilateral, such as this recent agreement between the U.S. and Mali. On the other hand, since the majority of the world’s air traffic flows between the U.S. and Europe, perhaps no worldwide negotiations are needed.

Moreover, none of these current agreements appear to require U.S. Senate confirmation or any congressional confirmation. Talk about unchecked executive power! But Congress’ non-involvement may also explain why there are so many (72 and counting) and why they are so uncontroversial.