IAG CEO Willie Walsh urges new UK-US Open Skies agreement

IAG CEO Willie Walsh congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory and urged the US government and the aviation industry to support a new US-UK Open Skies agreement modelled on the existing US-European Union (EU) Open Skies agreement. “I have a quote from Oscar Wilde that’s appropriate in this case,” Walsh said. “Oscar Wilde once said that ‘the world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those that do the improbable.’ I think what happened yesterday was we saw somebody who appealed to those who believe in the incredible and those who have done the improbable. I personally look forward to seeing what President-elect Trump does. I expect this is going to be a very exciting time for aviation.” Additionally, Walsh said there will be a period of negotiation before the shape of the UK’s future relationship with the EU and indeed the aviation framework will become clearer. “At IAG we will press strongly to maintain the full access to international markets and to continue effective regulatory arrangements,” Walsh said. “The best and the easiest way to do that will be for the UK and the EU to agree to a comprehensive air transport agreement, in other words an Open Skies agreement. We would want to see a similar Open Skies agreement between the UK and other markets for [which] the EU agreement already exists. That would include obviously the United States. I believe that such an agreement would be good for all parties, whether it’s Britain, America or the EU,” he said.<br/>