The European Commission on Monday unveiled plans to launch negotiations to open up the Chinese and Russian markets to European airlines.
EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said the EU wanted to create a common airspace with neighbouring countries by 2010, and urged EU governments to give him a mandate for talks with Beijing and Moscow to that end.
"International air traffic regulations are in need of modernising. By creating a single aviation market, the European Union has opened up new opportunities for airlines and passengers," he said.
But he added: "Common markets have yet to be created between the EU and third countries ... Europes capacity to build new markets, in relationships of trust with its partners, will give air traffic worldwide a major boost."
At present, flights between the EU and China or Russia are governed by bilateral agreements with member states.
These agreements usually contain restrictions, such as the number of landing slots available to a country's airline, and the airports that can be used by its airlines.
British airlines, for example, are able to fly to a maximum of six cities in China -- and this as the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai are expected to generate a surge in demand for flights to China.
Equally, the EU is Russia's largest trading partner, and the EU is the destination of about 75 percent of flights out of Russia.
The new negotiations with Russia would aim to bring an end to the so-called 'Siberia problem', a mechanism that forces European airlines to pay for the use of airspace over Siberia when flying to China or Japan.
By: N. Peter Kramer
