Open skies

If one side of the coin presents regulation of market access under the GATS Annex, the other side reflects the concept of open skies which conceptually reflects total liberalization of market access. A discussion of what is involved in such an arrangement bilaterally or multilaterally among States is best seen in the open skies agreement between the European Union and the United States. 

The apprehension of the US legislators in terms of the possible lack of control of US airlines by US citizens under an open skies agreement with the EU is not the only issue at stake for both parties to the negotiations. There are other issues which this article will address along with the ownership and control issue. 

The estimates of lATA show net profits for the airlines of 6.5 billion in 2007 after incurring 46.4 billion losses over the previous 6 years. 

I AT A acknowledges that the airline industry has not shown much wisdom in the timing of new orders and dehvery dates and that the industry, being capital intensive, could therefore be adversely affected by the timing of orders and deliveries which dictate profit and loss in the industry. 

The United States claims that one of the issues that both parties are in agreement is that there should be service by every European and every American carrier between all points in Europe and all points in the United States.Although the EU has not confirmed this statement. Broadly, the US is seeking the right for 

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Figure 2. Spectral energy distribution of sunlight at the earth s surface for solar angles of 10°, 40°, and 90°, from direct sun (--) or reflection from open sky (--) (5 ). ...

This package of tasks contains a considerable number of problems which belong to the modern field of manufacturing science. On the other hand, manufacturing science has not yet dealt at all with graded materials. So there is an "open sky" before us, and a rich and realistic source of motivation for young scientists and engineers to join the field which has been opened by the introduction of the FGM concept. 

Stmctural-monitoring installations are usually done under cover, and additional weather protection is not required, but the instmment may have to be protected from human activity or other disturbances. Normally a pier is not required, since the sensor may be anchored directly to a stmctural element. GPS reception for time synchronism may be a problem if the station is far from the open sky (e.g., in a dam gallery), but there exist technical solutions e.g., a GPS receiver may be outside, and the signal is repeated the accelerograph may be... 

EU, US Make Substantial Progress rai Open Skies, Aviation Daily, Monday, October 24, 2005 at p.2. 

Henri Wassenbergh, Open Skies and a Global Common Air Traffic Market, Journal LuchtRecht, Special Edition, Liber Amicorum in Honour of Prof. Dr. I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor, Nr. 9/10, December 2005, 51 at p.53. 

In the US context, what is sought by the US carriers are free access to London Heathrow and seventh freedom carriage within the EU for express carriers. In broad terms, the US interests are focused on turning the North Atlantic aviation market into an open skies area giving rise to a common international air traffic market untrammelled by any conditions on market access, capacity and pricing. This would of course exclude the internal US market and any incursirMi into current US policy on majority ownership of US carriers by US nationals. 

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