Meeting in Luxembourg on June 24th, Transport ministers from Member states, Vice-president Kallas and US Ambassador in Luxembourg, have signed the Second Stage Open Skies agreement, that will mean the opening of new spaces for collaboration as well as the enhancement of transatlantic air transport. The full implementation of the first and second stage agreements is expected to give the economy a 12 billion € boost as well as create up to 80,000 new jobs.

The second stage agreement builds on the benefits of the ground breaking EU–US Open Skies agreement signed in 2007, which entered into force mid-2008. It generates new commercial opportunities and strengthens the framework of cooperation on issues such as the environment, social protection, competition, and security. Furthermore, it creates the prospect of additional investment and market access opportunities in the future.

Second-stage negotiations started in May 2008 with a view of further regulatory cooperation and additional market opportunities. The negotiators have now fulfilled the mandate given in the EU–US summit in November 2009.

The Agreement provides clear commercial advantages, including greater access for EU airlines to the "Fly America" programme. The United States and Europe have committed to the goal of removing remaining access barriers and will review progress towards this objective on an annual basis.

Improvements in terms of regulatory cooperation achieved by second phase of Open Skyes agreement

• Cooperation on environmental matters: compatibility and interaction of market-based measures (such as emission trading schemes) to avoid duplication; promoting greater transparency for noise-based airport measures and enhancement of green technologies, fuels and air traffic management. This cooperation is key to making international aviation more sustainable.
• Social dimension of EU-US aviation relations. This will not only ensure that the existing legal rights of airline employees are preserved, but that the implementation of the agreement will contribute to high labour standards.
• Raise the already high level of cooperation on security to better allocate resources at threats to the aviation system by promoting maximum mutual reliance on each other's security measures as well as swift and coordinated responses to new threats.
• Extension of the EU–US Joint Committee role, the body that monitors the implementation of the Agreement and coordinates the various work streams of regulatory cooperation

Additional commercial rights pending of legislative changes

• Reciprocal liberalisation of airline ownership and control. Currently, foreign ownership in US airlines is limited to 25% of voting rights. Upon legislative change in the US, the EU will reciprocally allow majority ownership of EU airlines by US nationals.
• Airport noise-based restrictions. Subject to legislative changes in the EU concerning the process for introducing noise-based airport restrictions, EU airlines will gain additional rights to fly between the US and a number of non-European countries. Furthermore, a number of obstacles for EU investment in third country-airlines will be removed. Similar rights will be available for US airlines when the US laws allow EU majority ownership of US airlines.

The European Union and the United States' markets are the largest aviation markets in the world. Together, they represent approximately 60% of global aviation. The economic benefits associated with the implementation of this second stage agreement have been independently estimated to be equivalent to the transatlantic benefits to be expected from a successful conclusion of the Doha round of trade. Following signature of the agreement, the consent of the European Parliament and ratification by all Member States will be necessary for its formal entry into force.