Brussels/Washington, March 3 (DPA) European and US negotiators have reached a tentative civil aviation deal, hailed by the European Commission as a "decisive progress".

The so-called open skies agreement - the first of its kind - will expand transatlantic travel and is needed to allow unobstructed access for airlines to airspace over the 27-member bloc and the US. The deal would replace bilateral agreements between the US and EU countries.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the deal "very positive", and said it would likely be presented at an upcoming EU-US summit in May.

"It is potentially very important for ... the airline industry, but also for all those millions of passengers that transit back and forth between the United States and EU countries," McCormack said.

The provisional deal also covers ownership and control rights over US airlines by EU investors - a major sticking point in past talks between the two sides - and also allows the EU to restrict US investment in European airlines, the commission said.

EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that the breakthrough in the talks could be worth up to 12 billion euros ($15.8 billion) in economic benefits and would also lead to the creation of up to 80,000 jobs.

If approved by EU transport ministers at a meeting later this month, the deal would go into force in October, Barrot said.

The EU and the US have long struggled to make progress in the talks, which stalled most recently in December after Washington withdrew a plan to give European airlines more freedom to invest in US airlines and to participate in management decisions.

The EU had made the investor rule a condition for putting in place the open skies agreement.

Air travel in Europe and the US accounts for 60 percent of global air traffic. The commission said it expects transatlantic travel to increase by 34 percent to 26 million people annually in the coming years.