Press Release: The Commission defends the ‘Open Skies’ rulings

The European Commission decided on 14 December 2004 to send reasoned opinions to four Member States following the measures it had taken in July 2004 to enforce the European Court of Justice's 'Open Skies' rulings. Despite the Court's judgments of 5 November 2002, Finland, Germany, Italy and Portugal still had discriminatory bilateral international air transport agreements. By reserving transport rights for national carriers ('nationality clauses'), these agreements hindered freedom of competition for the provision of international air transport services between the European Union and third countries to the detriment of the airline industry and users.