The Air Transport Agreement between the European Union and the United States will take effect on Sunday, March 30.

For the first time, European airlines will be able to fly without restrictions from any point in the EU to any point in the United States. "This marks the start of a new era in transatlantic aviation," said Jacques Barrot, vice-president of the European Commission in charge of Transports. "This Agreement will bring more competition and cheaper flights to the U.S."

The two largest aviation markets together comprise 60 percent of world traffic. The agreement removes all restrictions on routes, prices, or the number of weekly flights. Flights between London-Heathrow and the U.S. are expected to increase immediately by 20 percent compared with April 2007.

Signed on April 30, 2007, the agreement is seen as an important first step towards the creation of a transatlantic open aviation area: a single air transport market between the EU and the United States with free flows of investment and no restrictions on air services, including access to the domestic markets of both parties. Second-stage negotiations are already scheduled for May.