Another reason behind this court case is the fact that the open skies agreements provide more generous access to EU markets for US airlines compared to the access offered to EU airlines in the USA. In particular, because Europe is treated as a series of separate countries, US airlines have the right to fly from, say, New York to London, pick up passengers in London and take them on to Frankfurt. However, a European carrier would not be permitted to pick up US passengers in New York for an onward flight to Chicago.