The European Commission has found that the United States has violated an aviation deal with the European Union by taking too long to grant a license allowing budget airline Norwegian Air to begin transatlantic flights. Under the 2007 open-skies agreement, EU airlines can fly to the United States from anywhere in the 28 country bloc, while the same holds for US airlines servicing Europe.
Norwegian Air, which currently flies to the US on a temporary licence from non-EU Norway, is seeking a foreign carrier permit for its Irish subsidiary, with the backing of the EU executive.
The Commission and US officials met on 25 November to discuss the case. "The European Commission considers that there is a breach of the EU-US air transport agreement by the US authorities... The US authorities are taking too long to process the application," the EU executive said in a statement.
The next meeting of the EU-US joint committee is scheduled for January.