U.S.-EU OPEN SKIES PLUS DEMARCHE

UNCLAS VIENNA 000652 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB/TRA/AN/TOM COLEMAN AND EUR/ERA/PEGGY WALKER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR ECON KTIA PREL EU AU SUBJECT: U.S.-EU OPEN SKIES PLUS DEMARCHE REF: STATE 29781 ¶1. On March 15, EconPol Counselor presented reftel demarche to Manfred Bialonczyk, Director General for Civil Aviation in the Austrian Ministry of Transportation, Innovation and Technology. We gave him copies of the Draft Air Transportation Agreement, the Draft Memorandum of Consultations and the remarks of Chief U.S. Negotiator John Byerly. Bialonczyk replied that he has not yet studied the draft agreement in detail, for which reason he gave no definitive response. However, he did not anticipate problems with the draft agreement, and Austria is highly likely to support it at the March 22-23 EU Transport Council. ¶2. We noted that Walter Reimann, director of international relations and government affairs of Austrian Airlines (AUA),told us AUA has no problems with the agreement and hopes for early implementation. ¶3. We also passed copies of Draft Air Transportation Agreement, the Draft Memorandum of Consultations and Byerly's remarks to Alois Kraut, head of transportation and communication in the Austrian MFA. MCCAW