The New Age...It's Coming!

The New Age...It's Coming! - October 2008 Issue - (Aircraft Maintenance Technology):

"In case you did not notice, the FAA, State Department (Department of Transportation), and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) entered into another aviation bilateral agreement in June. This new agreement is called the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA).

You may also recall that recently Mary Peters, Secretary of Transportation, signed an agreement which is described as the ‘open skies’ agreement that essentially allows the European Union (EU) airlines unfettered access to our U.S. market. In addition, there are many more details to that agreement that do not bode well for our industry. A previous article, Open Skies-European Union – United States Air Transport Agreement (July 2007), touched on that subject. At that time the EU Vice President for Transport stated, ‘the objective of our negotiations will be additional traffic rights (for the EU) and fewer (read that as no) restrictions on European ownership and control of U.S. air carriers.’

This is all done in the name of harmonization. But make no mistake about it … there are some serious implications floating out of this current arrangement that seem to look more and more like an effort by EASA to create a single management agency for all of world aviation."