On November 17, the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland completed a civil air transport agreement. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao signed the Agreement for the United States on November 10 in Washington. Today, UK State Secretary for Transport Grant Shapps signed on behalf of the UK, completing the process for signature of the Agreement.
The Agreement includes all of the essential elements of Open Skies, such as unrestricted capacity and frequency, open routes, open code-sharing opportunities, a liberal charter regime, and market-determined pricing. The Agreement also provides expanded "seventh-freedom" traffic rights for all-cargo carriers and full market access to the UK's overseas territories and crown dependencies. Pending the Agreement's entry into force via an exchange of diplomatic notes, both sides are prepared to apply its terms on the basis of comity and reciprocity as soon as the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement no longer applies to the United Kingdom.
