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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 1811.PDF
EDITORIAL UK Editorial Enquiries Editorial Fax Editor Allan Winn Editor's PA Lisa Jenkins Deputy Editor Forbes Mutch News Editor Andrew Chuter +44 (181) 652 3842 +44(181)652 3840 +44(181)652 3882 +44 (181) 652 3882 +44 (181) 652 3852 +44(181)652 3843 COMMENT Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount +44 (181) 652 3845 Business Editor Kevin O'Toole +44 (181) 652 3835 Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones+44 (181) 652 3825 Defence Aviation Editor Douglas Barrie Aviation Research Editor Jennifer Pite Technical Reporter Andrew Doyle Editorial Assistant Kate Sarsfield Production Editor Chris Thornton Art Editor Alexis Rendell Layout Sub-Editor Annabel Wells Senior Technical Artist Tim Hall Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella Junior Technical Artist Gareth Burgess Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss Photographer (Europe) Mark Wagner Picture Librarian Kim Hearn EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Julian Moxon +44 (181) 652 3834 +44 (181) 652 384Y +44(181)652 3838 +44 (181) 652 3842 +44(181)652 3850 +44(181)652 3828 +44 (181) 652 3848 +44 (181) 652 8047 +44(181)652 8054 +44 (181) 652 8047 +44(1237)471960 +44(181)944 5225 +44(181)652 3427 +33(1)40 54 0862 [Fax+33 (1)47 64 44 28] Munich Correspondent Andrzej Jeziorski +49 (89) 6891041 [Fax+49 (89) 6891045] Paris Correspondent Gilbert Sedbon +33 (1) 48 25 52 61 Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9671155 Moscow Correspondent +7 (095) 393 4717 Alexander Velovich [Fax +7 (095) 393 4717] AMERICAS American Editor Graham Warwick +1 (770) 587 2927 [Fax+1(770) 5941534] Washington Correspondent Ramon Lopez +1 (703) 836 7443 [Fax +1 (703) 836 8344] West Coast Correspondent Guy Norris +1 (714) 252 8971 [Fax +1 (714) 252 8972] ASIA PACIFIC Asian Editor (Singapore) Paul Lewis Australian Correspondent Paul Phelan +65 338 3398 [Fax+65 338 6171] +61(70)532 791 [Fax +61 (70) 533 003] DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENT SALES UK and EUROPE Display Advertising Enquiries +44 (181) 652 3315 Display Advertising Fax +44 (181) 652 8981 Group Advertisement Director Trevor Parker +44 (181) 652 3319 Secretary Lisa Devlin +44 (181) 652 3315 Advertisement Production Display/Classified Howard Mason +44 (181) 652 3267 UK, NORTHERN and EASTERN EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST and ISRAEL Senior Area Manager Robin Gordon +44 (181) 652 4998 UK, IRELAND, GREECE, IBERIA, BENELUX, AFRICA Area Manager Janice Lowe +44(181)652 3316 FRANCE Sales Director France Pierre Mussard ITALY Representative Romano Ferrario NORTH AMERICA Vice-president US Sales John Tidy Sales Director East Coast Robert Hancock Sales Director Mid-West & Canada Gene Glendinning Traffic Manager Debbie Kolb ASM, AUSTRALIA +33 (1) 46 29 4615 [Fax+33 (1)40 93 03 37] +39(2)6603 4435 [Fax+39 (2) 6603 4367] +1(714)7561057 [Fax+1(714) 756 2514] +1 (703) 836 7444 [Fax+1(703) 836 7446] +1 (847) 304 5588 [Fax+1(847) 304 9559] +1(212)545 5376 [Fax +1 (212) 679 9455] Singapore Account Manager Karen Kwan +65 338 3398 [Fax+65 338 3213] CLASSIFIED & RECRUITMENT Group Advertisement Manager Gareth Pask Sales Manager Sarah Genest International Sales Executives Mo Buttivant Simon Lees Louise Meikle Lucy Middelboe Enquiries Classified USA Gail Tavelman Classified Asia/Pacific Lina Rohmat +44(181)652 4814 +44 (181) 770 3010 +44 (181) 770 3032 +44(181)770 3011 +44(181)770 3027 +44 (181) 770 3030 +44(181)6616373 +1 (212) 545 5403 +65 338 3398 DE JA DEJA VU THE JAPANESE AND US Governments are once again going to the edge in the lat est round of bilateral-air-service negotia tions by threatening each other with sanctions and counter-sanctions. The news has been greeted by indus- "The Japanese have matched the USA's opening play, and raised the ante, with the threat of try observers in Tokyo and Washington with a collective cry of "here we go again". The US Depart ment of Transportat ion (DoT) and the Japanese Ministry of Transport (MoT) are playing that familiar game of airline poker again, die latest session coming less than four months after the two sides signed an agree ment settling 19-95's air-cargo dispute. That deal, hammered out over five rounds of often strained negotia tions, failed to address the more basic need for a new overall bilateral treaty, and so laid the seed for this new dispute. In the latest round, die USA has made die opening bid widi a "show-cause" order direat- ening to restrict the movement ofjapan Airlines' (JAL) cargo on certain routes from die end of July. The DoT's justification is that Japan's refusal to grant FedEx additional new Asian routes violates die existing 1952 bilateral treaty. The Japanese have matched die USAs open ing play, and raised die ante, widi die direat of counter-sanctions, not just against FedEx, but also certain Northwest Airlines cargo services in Asia. The MoT says diat FedEx's demands for new fifth-freedom routes are not covered by the agreement signed inMarch and die US direat of sanctions is itself a breach of the 1952 treaty. If this new row goes the way of previous ones, the two sides will return to the negotiating table at die last minute, reaching another interim agree ment to prevent the implementation of sanctions. That, however, is not going to be satisfactory and, in some respects, is an unjust solution. To prevent the endless cycle of talk-threat- talk, Japan and die USA need to sit down and thrash out a completely new aviation agree ment. The hurdles are formidable, but, as die long-awaited US agreements widi Hong Kong and Thailand demonstrate, not impossible. The original 44-year-old treaty between the USA and Japan was negotiated when war-rav aged Japan possessed no civil air-transport in dustry to speak of and commercial aviation bore no similarity with diat counter sanctions, not just against e/a/%nss FedEx. of today's. The deal leans heavily in favour of US carriers. Present-day reality lends credible support tojapan's claim that the 1952 treaty is outdated and "grossly unfair". Incumbent US carri ers, Northwest Air lines and United Air lines enjoy a virtually unlimited number of fifth-freedom services beyond Japan, ac counting for some 1.8 million passengers a year, estimates JAL. The Japanese flag car rier, in return, is al lowed just one twice- weekly ser- vice from Los Angeles to Brazil, amounting to 4,000 passen gers a year. The DoT's continued insistence on first resolving all outstanding issues under the exist ing regime before addressingjapan's demand for a more equitable treaty, appears to be little more dian a stalling mechanism. The USA, in response to growing pressure for change, is pro moting an "open-skies" policy in place of the old bilateral-air-services treaty. Thejapanese, how ever, think that diis is a "flawed" arrangement, and diey argue diat die US version of open skies would offer no market safeguards, or Japanese access to the huge US domestic market. With a US presidential election drawing near, the Clinton Administration is keen to avoid being seen making any concessions to Japan at the expense of die US airline industry. The Japanese Government, headed by hardline for mer trade minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, also appears equally unwilling to give ground. No matter how many aces each side thinks it has, however, it is time to put all die cards on die table and forge a fresh, all-encompassing, agree ment, applicable to the modern era. This will be achieved, however, only when the USA has die courage to make an hpnest and moral and review of the stakes. i'-' • Details of future Flight International events, features, cutaways, newsletters, awards and subscription information can be found on our free Faxback service which can be reached 24h a day, seven days a week (on touch-tone telephones only) on +44 (181) 652 4019. Users need to have to hand their full fax numbers (including country code, if dialling from outside the UK). Publisher Gavin Howe +44 (181) 652 3675 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 24 - 30 July 1996 3
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