Is EU's open aviation policy good for air transport?

International air transport is at a crossroads. The aviation industry's center of gravity has moved toward the East, with main hubs in the Gulf region and ever-increasing passenger markets located in Asia. Long-haul inter-continental low-cost-carriers have emerged. Global alliances and their effects on competition have come into question. These outcomes have led to a reignited interest in the issue of liberalization in aviation: European regulators now need to balance concerns about fair competition with their own decades-long push for the multilateral liberalization of the aviation industry.