Michael O'Leary (Ryanair) has hinted at €8 transatlantic flights, made possible by the Open Skies Agreement

The EU and the US launched the second round of 'open skies' talks today which could increase routes and lower prices for transatlantic flights, or even the world's first global airline.

This new round builds on an agreement that allows airlines to access any US city from any point in the EU and vice versa and which entered force in March. It eliminated the need for some airlines to stopover at Shannon airport.

Britain has led critics of the earlier agreement and is calling for the abolition of US federal laws that cap foreign control of US airlines at 25% of their voting stock.

But the US Congress will not easily be persuaded to approve any such deal amid fears that US airlines would be the main takeover targets, said C Boyden Gray, the US envoy to the European Commission.