The Friedman Files

The new “Open Skies” agreement between the U.S. and the European Union begins this weekend.  We’ll have special coverage on NBC5 Today at 8am Sunday and also on NBC5 News at 10.

The agreement loosens old restrictions on flights.  Now carriers will be able to fly non-stop between any two cities in the U.S. and Eurpoe.  The idea is to stimulate competition and make more routes and options available to travellers.

So what’s the effect in North Texas?  Will it really bring more international carriers to DFW airport?  Will it bring down fares so you can take that summer trip to London or Rome for less?  In the short term, I don’t think so. 

The immediate benefit travellers will see here is more flights to London Heathrow.  Anyone who’s travelled through Heathrow knows it offers many more connections to other European destinations (and about anyplace in the world) than Gatwick airport.  So, more Heathrow flights on AA and British Airways will make things much easier for people who want to fly from DFW to smaller European cities, and it may generate some more competition on those routes.

But what DFW really needs is more foreign carriers offering service.  If you want cheaper tickets you need companies like Air France, Virgina Atlantic, Alitalia, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Swiss, and SAS competiting for business.  Those carriers already serve other major cities like Chicago and Atlanta.  DFW airport built Terminal D (one of the finest in the world) hoping to attract more carriers — but its still working on building the list of airlines offering service.  The addition of KLM, which starts offering flights this weekend, is a great start.  Let’s hope there’s more to come.  A KLM executive told me this week he believes it will eventually happen.  His company sees a good future in its Dallas-Amsterdam route and he thinks others will someday see the same.

Now if we could just pump up the sagging U.S. Dollar — that would be a way to really save some money on that European vacation.

Here are a few pictures this morning from our interview with Cyndi Dawson from the group that’s building the 9-11 flight crew memorial in Grapevine. The bronze is a miniature of what the overall memorial will look like. The white statue in the upper left hand corner is a full size casting of one of the figures. The flight crew memorial board is raffling off a Porsche right now to raise money (picture below). For more information go to www.911flightcrewmemorial.org

View the video of this story at this link:  http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=227327

A very cold to start to the weekend with wind chills in the teens this morning as we started the first hour of NBC5 Today at 6am. 

Not a morning for driving around with the top down – but that didn’t stop us from talking with a group of Ferrari owners rallying in North Texas.  It’s one of two “fast car fundraisers” we’re highlighting this weekend

The Ferrari owners are raising money to help the City House in Plano, an organization that our own Newy Scruggs has worked with for some time.  City House is the only homeless shelter for teens in Collin County.  They help kids who’ve run away and those who’ve been removed from homes because of abuse or neglect.   For more go to www.cityhouse.org

On our Sunday morning program we will highlight another fundraising effort underway in North Texas – a memorial to the flight crews who lost their lives on 9-11.   One of the members of the organization that’s building that memorial in Grapevine will join us live on NBC5 Today on Sunday morning.   They’ve got a fundraiser underway right now that teases us with a shot a winning a Porsche in a raffle.  The memorial, which is under construction now, will honor the 33 pilots and flight attendants from American and United Airlines who died on board the airliners hijacked on 9-11.  for more information you can visit their website at www.911flightcrewmemorial.org

Also in our 8am hour on Sunday, we’ll have a great “Spotlight” piece on a program at the University of North Texas that’s spreading UNT scholars around the world where they are making a difference in classrooms.   

One of the nice things about a weekend morning show is we have a little more time to highlight some of the good things happening in our community.  Keep sending us ideas, and keep us posted on what’s happening in your neighborhood on the weekends.  We hope you’ll join us Sunday at 6 & 8am!