Open skies: More flights — but don't expect lower prices

NEW YORK — Starting this weekend, travelers on both sides of the Atlantic will find they have more options when booking nonstop flights between the U.S. and Europe.

They could fly between New York, and Lyon, France, or find a new flight from Salt Lake City to Paris. Those Paris flights begin June 2, when Delta Air Lines will offer a nonstop flight from Salt Lake City International Airport to Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport once a day. It is the first trans-Atlantic flight from Salt Lake City on any airline.

What travelers won't find much of when the open-skies agreement between the U.S. and European Union kicks in on Sunday are lower fares, despite a handful of introductory sales.

That's because airlines, already struggling with sky-high fuel prices and an economic slowdown, see the relaxed route restrictions primarily as a way to attract more of the high-end business and affluent leisure travelers they covet and see as necessary to their financial survival.

British Airways, for instance, is launching a new trans-Atlantic airline — aptly named OpenSkies — to take advantage of the agreement but will offer only 30 economy-class seats on each 82-seat plane, with the rest evenly split between first and business class.

On Thursday, a coach-class round-trip ticket for late June on Delta's nonstop flight to Paris was going for $1,516.52 and more on the airline's Web site, including taxes and fees.

"There is a move afoot...to use smaller (airplanes) flown nonstop to push leisure customers by the wayside...except for those willing to pay far higher prices," said Robert

Mann, an independent airline consultant in Port Washington, N.Y.

As oil has pushed past $100 a barrel, propelling jet fuel prices to record levels, many carriers have cut domestic capacity and moved planes to international routes, where ticket prices — and profits — are higher. The open-skies agreement appears likely to hasten the shift.

While the number of overall flights may increase and some cities will get new service and routes, the vast majority of the new flights will be on the same well-trafficked routes.