A Revise of the Skies
International affairs will be incredibly important to business travel this year because the concept of “open skies” will liberalize many of the aviation treaties that limit which airlines can fly to which international destinations, and when they can. The biggest open-skies arrangement kicks in on March 28, when the United States and the European Community will allow airlines more freedom to choose routes without bureaucratic interference.
The result? A headlong rush of carriers flying into London’s overburdened Heathrow Airport, the world’s most important international gateway. The four big U.S. airlines currently barred by treaty from Heathrow- Delta, Continental, Northwest, and U.S. Airways-have already announced plans to fly there the moment that open skies begins. The Heathrow incumbent, British Airways, will retaliate by creating an entirely new airline that will fly nonstop between the United States and continental Europe. B.A.’s plans will be officially announced tomorrow and flights should start by mid-spring. The current speculation is that B.A. will actually call the new carrier “Open Skies” and that it will initially link New York with cities such as Paris and Brussels.
B.A. won’t be alone. London-based Virgin Atlantic is expected to create its own new airline to fly between the United States and Europe without a Heathrow stopover. And Lufthansa is furiously reworking its strategy. The formidable German carrier has already announced that its all-business-class flights between Germany and secondary U.S. gateways like Chicago will be replaced with traditional three-class flights; the business-class jets are likely to be part of Lufthansa’s own new approach to trans-Atlantic flight.
There’ll be changes across the Pacific too. Australia and the United States will begin negotiating about open skies next month. The result is likely to be more flights and lower fares to the land Down Under and the U.S. debut of Virgin Blue, a domestic Australian carrier.