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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 3279.PDF
& ADVERTISER CONTACTS - 68 EDITORIAL +44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House. The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK Fax +44 (20) 8652 3840 email fligMMernational@rbi.co.uk Editor Murdo Morrison +44 (20) 8652 4395 murilo.morrison9rbi.co.uk Editor's PA Debra Warburton (maternity leave) Acting Editor's PA Andrew Costerton •44 (20) 8652 3835 andrew.costerton@rbi.co.uk News Editor Emma Kelly •44 (20) 8652 3096 emma.kelly@rbi.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones •44 (20) 8652 3825 max.kingsley.jones@rbi.co.uk Defence Aviation Editor Stewart Penney +44 (20) 8652 3834 stewart.penney@rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount •44 (20) 8652 3845 david.learmount@rbi.co.uk Business Editor Alexander Campbell •44 (20) 8652 3990 alexander.campbell@rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield •44 (20) 8652 3865 kate.sarsfield@rbi.co.uk Reporter Justin Wastnaqe +44 (20) 8652 3B63justin.wastnage@rbi.co.uk Technical Reporter Michael Phelan +44 (20) 8652 3843 michael.phelan@rbi.co.uk Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss +44 (1237) 471960 tim@spaceport.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Christina Mackenzie •33 (1) 64 23 68 89 christina.mackenzie@rbi.co.uk Israel Correspondent Arie Eqozi +972 (3) 9413132 Middle East Correspondent Gerald Butt +357 22 771967 gbutt@spidernet.com.cy AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick +1 (703) 836 3448 graham.warwick@rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Paul Lewis •1 (703) 836 3084 jpaul.lewis@rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Norris +1 (949) 252 8971 Fax +1 (949) 252 8972 guy.norris@rbi.co.uk Brazil Correspondent Jackson Flores Jr +55 212439-6062 Fax 00 55 212349-6090 fubar@uol.com.br Canada Correspondent Brian Dunn ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +65 6789 7575 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides +65 6780 4311 nicholas.ionides@rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Andrew Doyle +65 6780 4309 andrew.doyle@rbi.co.uk Regional Reporter David Fullbrook +6567804314 david.fullbrookyrbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Paul Phelan +61(7)40532791 Fax+61 (7)40533003 pdphelan@optusnet.com.au Australia Military Aviation Correspondent Peter La Franchl +61 (0) 419 246 620 Fax +61 (2) 62312795 nulka@ozemail.com.au EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Production Editor Graeme Osborn +44 (20) 8652 3828 Group Art Editor James Mason +44 (20) 8652 4994 Chief Sub-Editor Chris Thornton +44 (20) 8652 4997 Deputy Production Editor Jackie Thompson +44 (20) 8652 3850 Sub Editor Megan Turner +44 (20) 8652 3848 Photographer Mark Wagner +44 (20) 8944 5225 Senior Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella +44 (20) 8652 8054 Editorial Artist Tim Brown +44 (20) 8652 8043 WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL.COM Webmaster Sheena Buchanan +44 (20) 8652 4432 SUBSCRIPTIONS +44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptions@rbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kim.hearn@rbi.co.uk 0 and Database Rights 2002 Reed Business Information Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers A.'' r'I *'r 'ransDor'Intelligence (ATI), Flight International's sister _/-\J J online service at www.rati.com, contains the full text of Flight International and Airline Business since 1996. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis, Dialogue, FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor Kieran Daly +44 (20) 8652 3837 Reed Business Information COMMENT Opening the skies The European Court of Justice's ruling on bilateral aviation treaties has the potential to accelerate progress toward global deregulation Perhaps the judgement just issued by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on bilateral aviation agreements is not going to change anything immediately, but it has set the scene for a global revolution in the way the interna tional air transport system is regulated. Seven European Union countries have been told that their "open skies" bilateral avia tion treaties with the USA are illegal, so it would be easy to be misled into thinking that the ECJ's judgement had something to do with open skies or the USA. But it doesn't. The European Commission just had to decide on some targets for the first stage of its campaign to clarify how EU law affects aviation bilater- als, and the most recently renegotiated agreements all happened to be with the USA and were tagged "open skies". The ECJ judge ments will actually affect each and every bilateral aviation treaty between EU member states and non-EU states. A whole way of thinking needs to be reversed, and will not happen overnight At present, flights between the USA and countries in Europe are controlled by agree ments - bilateral aviation treaties - designating which airlines may operate the routes, who may own the airlines, where the owners may live and headquarter their businesses, how much capacity (seats and freight tonne/kilometres) the airlines may offer at what price, and to which airports at both ends of the routes they may operate. The world does not have any other civil industry that is so hamstrung by regulations. Although this was not its purpose, the ECJ's judgement has dealt a blow to bilateral avia tion treaties by highlighting - again - how much they restrict trade, and by forcing EU states to forge less exclusive bilaterals. The main issue on which the ECJ has ruled is actually fairly narrow. It is concerned with clauses within a treaty rather than the treaty as a whole. A treaty between a non-EU state and an EU state, says the ECJ, may not exclude airlines from any other EU nation from operating on the approved routes between the two parties to the bilateral. EU states would be wise to follow guidance from the judgement as more cases will undoubtedly follow. Any such agreement remains an exclusive aviation treaty, but not a traditional bilateral one - the parties to it have increased in num ber. Meanwhile the ruling, in forcing politicians and civil servants all over the world to rethink what purpose bilateral aviation treaties serve, has hopefully presented them with the oppor tunity to review air transport regulation in a world that operates to World Trade Organi sation (WTO) principles in other sectors. But no-one should hold their breath awaiting change. A whole way of thinking needs to be reversed, and this will not happen overnight. Although the ECJ, being a court, is not delivering a political judgement, it has certainly delivered to the European Commission its hoped-for opportunity to increase pressure on the USA to dump bilaterals in favour of a North Atlantic aviation free trade area. The USA, meanwhile, can say that it does not have to renegotiate its bilateral aviation treaties because these have been conducted with sov ereign states in the time-honoured way. But in reality it can only stall for time, and the same is true of all other states that have bilateral avia tion treaties with EU states. They will not be able to ignore the fact that EU states are bound by EU law when negotiating future avia tion treaties or changes to existing ones. Much horse-trading will be necessary to make the system work, however, and the Commission knows this. Non-EU objectors to the treaty can spoil the operation. For exam ple, under the ECJ rules, Lufthansa could operate from Paris to the USA and France has no means to object, but the USA could refuse landing rights to Lufthansa. Hence the Commission's argument that it should conduct all negotiations on behalf of member states. There is no problem with precedent here. The EU has negotiated bloc aviation agree ments with Switzerland and with Norway, and another broader trade agreement with Iceland and Norway. The USA acknowledges the EU's competence in other trade issues. Acknowledgement of its competence in respect of aviation agreements is only a mat ter of time. The ECJ's judgement may be fairly narrow in its scope, but forcing a group of bilateral avia tion treaties to become less exclusive is long overdue and the thin end of a wedge that will, in time, see nation-to-nation bilaterals liberalise and eventually disappear. If this judge ment hastens global deregulation, including the abandonment of restrictions on airline owner ship, then it is to be wholeheartedly welcomed. SEE BUSINESS P30 www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12-18 NOVEMBER 2002 3
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