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Get set for the most significant change in transatlantic travel in decades. Starting March 30, the Open Skies Treaty between the U.S. and the European Union goes into effect, allowing airlines to fly from any U.S. airport to any E.U. airport and vice versa.
The result will be a lot of new service options, especially to London's Heathrow, the premier business airport. Until now, only two U.S. carriers, American and United, have had flights to Heathrow, but soon they’ll be joined by Delta, Continental and Northwest Airlines.
Delta plans two flights a day from Atlanta and JFK, New York, to Heathrow, as well as a daily flight from Los Angeles. Northwest will launch daily service from Minnesota's Minneapolis-St Paul in late March and, later in the spring, from Detroit and Seattle. Continental will operate two flights a day from Houston and Newark, N.J., to Heathrow.
American and United also will step up their service. American will fly daily from Raleigh, N.C., and Dallas to Heathrow, instead of landing at London's Gatwick airport as they do now. United will add service from Denver to London.
European carriers will have greater freedom in flights to the U.S. as well. British Airways is launching a new subsidiary airline with routes outside the United Kingdom. Beginning in June, its subsidiary, OpenSkies, will operate daily flights from Paris and Brussels, Belgium, to New York. Starting March 30, British Airways also will begin flying to Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston from Heathrow rather than from Gatwick.
Increased competition will result in lower fares -- but not immediately. Demand continues to be incredibly strong on transatlantic routes and it will take a while for supply to catch up. That, and record prices for oil, will keep fares up through 2008. But added capacity should help to lower fares in early 2009.
Still, there will be "introductory offers." For example, United has an introductory deal that is good for purchase by March 26. The rate is $285 each way from Denver to London, a Saturday night stay over is required and travel is valid Monday through Wednesday. United is also offering 7,500 bonus miles on that route. Northwest is offering 15,000 bonus miles if a ticket is purchased no later than May 31.
Talks on phase two of Open Skies begins in June. Those talks will focus on allowing European airlines greater ownership of U.S. carriers and to begin domestic service in the U.S. Those talks are expected to be very contentious. Some airline analysts predict the European carriers will cancel part one of Open Skies if agreement is not reached on part two, but others say that's unlikely. "Not a chance after all this investment," says Jon Ash, president of Intervistas, a Washington D.C. consulting firm. "You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube,"
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