UK's regulatory body enters liberalisation debate

"The intellectual battle is over - open skies is the way forward." So says Alex Plant, head of economic policy and international aviation at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). But he admits the battle is still being fought over restrictons on ownership and control that are the other elements to a totally liberalised industry.
Speaking at a briefing in London this week he outlined the the primary obstacles to achieving this freedom - concerns over safety, non-reciprocity and regulatory convergence. And in a bid to open up the debate he says: "We felt it time to seek an objective view of the various issues."
In a discussion paper Ownership and control liberalisation the CAA points out the lack of commercial freedom in international aviation compared with other comparable global industries such as financial services and even highly sensitive sectors such as utilities and defence, and asks: "Why should airlines be so special when it comes to ownership and control?"
The CAA believes that there are likely to be substantial benefits from liberalisation and sets out a pathway for reform, which, it says, "should lead to safer, more efficient and cheaper international aviation".
It believes that liberalisation of ownership and control would bring benefits for safety and also for all participants in the industry - the airlines, their staff and the people who fly with them.
With regard to safety, greater market opportunities would act as incentives for countries' safety authorities and their arlines to improve safety performance, the CAA believes, while reform would facilitiate cross-border investment, lower financing costs and attract innovative management. Freer flows of capital would "allow a more financially stable industry structure to emerge and structural changes, such as consolidation and the growth of airlines with a significant presence in more than one continent, are made easier".
For consumers, lower prices and greater choice should result, while multinational airlines could offer new routes that are not possible at the moment. Airline staff have not been left out - the CAA believes they should have nothing to fear from reform. "A more flexible and responsive sector enabled by liberalisation should increase demand for the industry's outputs, with positive effects on employment," it insists.
With such a win-win situation envisaged one can only wonder why it is taking so long to achieve, and who is standing in the way?