BA says EU-US air talks 'a disappointment'

British Airways chairman Martin Broughton today said that EU-US talks on a new aviation agreement were a "disappointment".

He described long negotiations on an air services agreement designed to bring down trade barriers as "tinkering at the edges".

He said EU airlines still faced protectionist measures such as US ownership rules and the US insistence that all government workers use American carriers when they travel in Europe.

"There is a real danger that we are missing an opportunity of making a clear and major statement that both Europe and the US believe in the value of free trade," he said.