BMI British Midland calls for 'open skies' deal as talks with US restart

BMI British Midland, the country's second-biggest scheduled airline, raised the stakes last night in its attempt to start operating transatlantic services from Heathrow by calling on the UK and US governments to sign a full "open skies" agreement.

The airline also announced that it intended to seek anti-trust immunity to operate the services alongside its Star Alliance partner United Airlines, which already flies from Heathrow.

The call for a full open skies deal came as UK and US negotiators prepare to meet in London next week for the first set of talks since the Bush administration took office. The talks, due to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, are expected to be followed by a second round of negotiations in Washington in July.

Previously, BMI British Midland had been pressing for a "mini" open skies deal that would allow it and one other US carrier access to the transatlantic on a very limited basis.

However, Sir Michael Bishop, the chairman of BMI British Midland, said it now wanted full liberalisation and disclosed that it would launch services to five US destinations – Washington, Chicago, Miami, Seattle and Denver – as soon as an agreement was signed. On two of the routes – Seattle and Denver – British Airways is the only UK carrier.

In recent weeks, BA itself has renewed attempts to obtain anti-trust immunity for its own alliance with American Airlines, lobbying politicians and officials in both Washington and Brussels. It is believed that BA is keen to secure a deal before the European Court of Justice rules on a case brought by the European Commission, which is seeking the right to negotiate air service agreements between the US and Europe on a multi-lateral basis.

Sir Michael said BMI British Midland would be pressing for the granting of immunity as soon as possible and certainly no later than any immunity granted to BA.