Originally Posted by
mduell
While
open skies markets exist where carriers may launch any flights they want, they're not everywhere, and largely a recent development. PMCO couldn't even fly to LHR until just before the merger due to the lack of a route authority.
IINM, LHR was (and is still) an issue of slot restrictions and what airlines were allowed to own those slots, not anything to do with US-UK flights. ie, China-US flights are restricted because there is no open skies treaty. PMCO could fly to the UK (and did, to LGW), but couldn't fly to LHR basically because it's too busy.