Heathrow welcomes new flights

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Dan Reed

Come Sunday, there's going to be a surge of new competition at London's Heathrow Airport.

After decades of fruitless talks, public posturing, backroom maneuvering and half measures that fell short of completely deregulating air service between the USA and Europe, the era of Open Skies dawns.

Every U.S. airline gains the right to fly to any destination in Europe without requesting government authorization -- and every European carrier has the right to serve any U.S. city it wishes to serve.

But the 2007 Open Skies deal between the U.S. government and the European Union is mostly about opening up competition at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest, and until now, competitively restricted airports.

Previously, only American, United, British...