Freedoms of the air

The freedoms of the air, also called five freedoms of air transport, are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airlines the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace. They were formulated as a result of disagreements over the extent of aviation liberalisation in the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944, known as the Chicago Convention. The United States had called for a standardized set of separate air rights to be negotiated between states, but most other countries were concerned that the size of the U.S. airlines would dominate air travel if there were not strict rules. The freedoms of the air are the fundamental building blocks of the international commercial aviation route network. The use of the terms "freedom" and "right" confers entitlement to operate international air services only within the scope of the multilateral and bilateral treaties (air services agreements) that allow them.

The first two freedoms concern the passage of commercial aircraft through foreign airspace and airports, while the other freedoms are about carrying people, mail and cargo internationally. The first through fifth freedoms are officially enumerated by international treaties, especially the Chicago Convention. Several other freedoms have been added, and although most are not officially recognised under broadly applicable international treaties, they have been agreed to by a number of countries. The lower-numbered freedoms are relatively universal while the higher-numbered ones are rarer and more controversial. Liberal open skies agreements often represent the least restrictive form of air services agreements and may include many if not all freedoms. They are relatively rare, but examples include the recent single aviation markets established in the European Union (European Common Aviation Area), and between Australia and New Zealand.

Overview

Freedoms of the air apply to commercial aviation.

| A flight from Canada to Mexico, flown by a Mexican airline, flying over the United States.

| 2nd

| The right to refuel or carry out maintenance in a foreign country without embarking or disembarking passengers or cargo. The Chicago Convention drew up a multilateral agreement in which the first two freedoms, known as the International Air Services Transit Agreement (IASTA) or "Two Freedoms Agreement", were open to all signatories. At the end of 2017, the treaty was accepted by 133 countries.

A country granting transit rights may impose fees for the privilege. The reasonableness of such fees has caused controversy at times.

===First freedom===

thumb|IASTA participants (and some of their dependent territories)

thumb|alt=Map of approximately the Northern Hemisphere from Japan and New Guinea (left edge) to middle of North Atlantic Ocean. The map shows yellow over the continental US and Bahamas, Alaska (and much of the Bering Sea) and a yellow circle around Bermuda. Most of the Northern Pacific is colored blue along with a small section in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and the western half of the North Atlantic from roughly the latitude of Maine to the northern edge of the Leeward Islands (or Puerto Rico).|The United States has authority to charge overflight fees over its territory (en route, yellow) and over ocean regions where it has been delegated air traffic control responsibilities by the [[International Civil Aviation Organization|ICAO (oceanic, blue). The fees are applicable only to overflights; domestic and international flights arriving/departing the US are taxed through landing fees.]]

The first freedom is the right to fly over a foreign country without landing. It grants the privilege to fly over the territory of a treaty country without landing. Member states of the International Air Services Transit Agreement grant this freedom (as well as the second freedom) to other member states, subject to the transiting aircraft using designated air routes. These large and strategically located non-IASTA-member states prefer to maintain tighter control over foreign airlines' overflight of their airspace and negotiate transit agreements with other countries on a case-by-case basis. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and China did not allow airlines to enter their airspace. There were flights from Europe to Japan that refueled in Alaska. Since the end of the Cold War, first freedom rights are almost completely universal.

IASTA allows each member country to charge foreign airlines "reasonable" fees for using its airports (which is applicable, presumably, only to the second freedom) and "facilities"; according to IATA, such fees should not be higher than those charged to domestic airlines engaged in similar international services. (Overflights might still be using services of a country's air traffic control centers). For example, the Federal Aviation Administration of the U.S., an IASTA signatory, charges overflight fees based on the great circle distance between an aircraft's points of entry into and exit from U.S.-controlled airspace. This transit is then divided into overland (referred to as en route) and oceanic components; the latter include flights over international waters where air traffic is controlled by the U.S., including sections of Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and much of the northern Pacific Ocean. Since 2019 these have been charged at for en route components, and for the oceanic components.

Countries that are not signatories of the IASTA charge overflight fees as well; among them, Russia is known for charging high fees, especially on the transarctic routes (between North America and Asia) that cross Siberia. In 2008, European airlines were paying Russia €300 million a year for flyover permissions.

Second freedom

The second freedom allows technical stops without the embarking or disembarking of passengers or cargo.

Beyond rights also encompass international flights with a foreign intermediate stop where passengers may only embark and disembark at the intermediate point on the leg of the flight that serves the origin of an airline operating it.

====Fifth freedom====

The fifth freedom allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline's own country. It is the right to carry passengers from one's own country to a second country, and from that country onward to a third country (and so on). An example of a fifth freedom traffic right is Singapore Airlines flight SQ 26 from Singapore to New York (John F. Kennedy) via Frankfurt, where tickets may be sold on all legs.

Fifth freedom traffic rights are intended to enhance the economic viability of an airline's long haul routes, but tend to be viewed by local airlines and governments as potentially unfair competition. Particularly in protest over US air carriers' service patterns in Asia, some nations have become less generous in granting fifth freedom traffic rights, while sixth freedom traffic has grown in importance for Asian airlines. Consequently, some nations seek to regulate sixth freedom traffic as though it were fifth freedom traffic. Another example is Air Canada, which has pursued a strategy of carrying passengers between the US and points in Europe and Asia through its Canadian hubs.

While sixth freedom operations are rarely legally-restricted, they may be controversial: for example, Qantas has complained that Emirates, Singapore Airlines and other sixth-freedom carriers have unfair advantages in the market between Europe and Australia. In exchange for a smaller state granting fifth freedom rights to a larger country, the smaller country may be able to gain sixth freedom traffic to onward destinations from the larger country.

Modified sixth freedom (indirect cabotage)

The unofficial modified sixth freedom is the right to carry passengers or cargo between two points in one foreign country, while making a stop in the home country.

For example, (the unofficial modified sixth freedom): a Canadian carrier departs from a US airport, stops in its Canadian hub and departs/continues onward to a different US airport.

Seventh and ninth freedoms (standalone cabotage)

The unofficial seventh and ninth freedoms are variations of the fifth freedom. It is the right to carry passengers or cargo in foreign territories without any service to, from or via one's own country.

The right to carry passengers or cargo within a foreign country without continuing service to or from one's own country, is sometimes known as "stand-alone cabotage". It differs from the aviation definition of "true cabotage", in that it does not directly relate to one's own country.

Eighth freedom (consecutive cabotage)

The unofficial eighth freedom is the right to carry passengers or cargo between two or more points in one foreign country and is also known as cabotage. In 2005, the United Kingdom and New Zealand concluded an agreement granting unlimited cabotage rights. Given the distance between the two countries, the agreement can be seen as reflecting a political principle rather than an expectation that these rights will be taken up in the near future. Similarly, New Zealand had exchanged eighth-freedom rights with Ireland in 1999.

Notes

References

External links

ICAO Freedoms of the Air
Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation (MALIAT)
Basic Position of Japanese Side in Japan-Us Passenger Air Talks (1996)
List of Parties (pdf) List of signatories to the transit agreement