Open Sky?

Do you know that an airline carrier is not a bird and cannot freely fly to any destination? International air law regulates traffic ie passengers, cargoes and mails to fly via an airline carrier from a domestic point of origin to any foreign destinations and return. The concept of open skies primarily calls for the deregulation of international commercial aviation to create a free market for airline carriers.

Politically, States assert their sovereignty over their territory including the air space and take pride in their flag carriers. Economically, for every right granted for scheduled international air services to other States (internationally recognized as the five freedoms), reciprocal arrangements or other trade offs are expected. Whereas a State such as US and China having scale in its domestic air transport would encourage national competition from within, a State having no such scale would advocate international competition from without.

The open skies concept gets first major acceptance in the non-civil front with the conclusion of the Treaty on Open Skies 1992, permitting observation flights over the air space of contracting parties eg Russia's surveillance plane can fly over US. The first Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation 2001 was between US and non major aviation markets eg Singapore and New Zealand. The second multilateral Air Transportation Agreement between US and the European Community and its 27 Member States 2007 enables competition in routes, capacity and pricing in the two biggest aviation markets eg more flights from London Heathrow to US points and vice versa. One limitation under the Agreement is that while the European skies are open for US carriers to fly between any point in the European Union, the European carriers do not have the equivalent rights in the US closed skies.

Sovereign air space is a major political and economic resource and putting a State's national interest first is common governance. While certain skies have been opened for non-civil and commercial purposes, I believe the openings were the result of getting other trade offs so that the overall political and economic package deal is still beneficial or acceptable to the contracting parties. Unless and until the world has politically and economically become one, I believe the prospect of having just one open sky is rather slim!