Open skies the limit as CCI begins talks

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland (CCI) met with interested parties who had made submissions for its report on "Open Skies and the Consequences for Ireland".

The report was commissioned by CCI's Air Transport Users Council (ATUC) following the mandate granted to the European Commission to negotiate an open aviation agreement with the US on behalf of the 15 EU member states.

The report is being carried out by Frederik Sorensen,, former head of air transport policy for the European Commission, and Alan Dukes, the former Fine Gael leader and economist with a long-standing interest in air transport issues.

Both co-authored the first ever EU discussion paper on Air Transport Liberalisation, 25 years ago.

The public meeting heard presentations from the SIGNAL Workers Group, Irish Airline Pilots Association, John Kenna (consultant in transport and logistics), Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Swords Fingal Chamber of Commerce.

Chairperson of CCI's ATUC Tadhg Kearney said: "An EU/US Air Liberalisation Agreement will create a single market of 700 million and the question that must be addressed is: 'how does Ireland position itself in this new market?'"

He said that the aim of the report is to seek a national consensus regarding the open skies issues, at EU level to the benefit of Ireland's national interest.

The report is to be co-funded under the leadership of ATUC by Aer Lingus, Aer Rianta, Forfas and the Irish Hotels Federation.