Just last Thursday the European Union signed an aviation deal with Canada that will allow airlines to operate flights from any European city to Canada and will phase out restrictions on foreign ownership of carriers. The deal replaces a patchwork of agreements between Canada and most, but not all, of the European Union’s 27 nations. This prevented one of the European Union flagship airlines from running flights from another part of Europe to Canada.

Overall, this meant that British airlines, for example, could only run flights from Britain to Canada. That’s no longer the case. Now the airlines can operate direct flights to Canada from any part of Europe. The deal also removes all restrictions on routes, prices, or the number of weekly flights between the two regions.

The European Union’s executive commission went on to say that the deal could actually generate economic benefits for at least $105 million and create more than 1,000 jobs in the first year. This is great news given the current state of the economy. They also pointed out that the opening up of the market could see an extra 3.5 million people fly between the two regions in coming years. More than 9 million people traveled between Canada and the European Union last year.

Antonio Tajani, the European Union transport commissioner, said that this new agreement made the European Union and Canada air transport markets better. The European Union is hoping to expand a similar deal with the United States, which is reluctant to drop barriers to foreign investment in airlines. Limits on investment will be phased out gradually.