FINLAND SUPPORTS THE OPEN SKIES PLUS AGREEMENT

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000184 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EEB/TRA/AN/TCOLEMAN AND EUR/ERA/PWALKER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON EU KTIA PREL FI SUBJECT: FINLAND SUPPORTS THE OPEN SKIES PLUS AGREEMENT REF: SECSTATE 29781 ¶1. (SBU) Econoff delivered reftel demarche on the Open Skies Plus agreement to Anne Torkkeli, Susan Hindstrom and Topi Siren, of the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications on March 14. GOF contacts voiced support for the revised Air Services Agreement and disappointment that the original agreement wasn't signed during Finland's recent EU Presidency. Torkkeli remarked that the agreement was important since it solidified the "legal certainty" of a bilateral aviation agreement between the U.S. and the EU. Finland plans to vote for the agreement during the upcoming EU Transport Council meeting; however, GOF contacts stressed they have limited ability to influence others on this matter now that the EU Presidency has passed to Germany. ¶2. (SBU) Media sources quoted officials from Finnish flag carrier Finnair as saying that the agreement is still biased due to U.S. ownership restrictions. After acknowledging that any agreement was better than nothing at all, Finnair officials said the agreement would have little direct impact on its daily operations. During the last year, Finnair traffic to the U.S. has fallen by roughly 24 percent while increasing by the same amount to locations in Asia. HYATT