Freedoms of the air
Encyclopedia
The freedoms of the air are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airline
(s) the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace
. 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 which may be negotiated between states but most of the other countries involved were concerned that the size of the U.S. airlines would dominate all world air travel if there were not strict rules.
The convention was successful in drawing 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. As of mid-2007, the treaty is accepted by 129 countries.
While it was agreed that the third to fifth freedoms shall be negotiated between states, the International Air Transport Agreement (or the "Five Freedoms Agreement") was also opened for signatures, encompassing the first five freedoms.
Several other "freedoms" have since been added, although most are not officially recognised under international bilateral treaties they have been agreed by a number of countries; for example, Aer Lingus
had fifth freedom rights through Manchester to various European destinations prior to EU liberalisation and Pan Am had rights through London for many years.
freedoms of the air are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airline
(s) the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace
. 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 which may be negotiated between states but most of the other countries involved were concerned that the size of the U.S. airlines would dominate all world air travel if there were not strict rules.
The convention was successful in drawing 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. As of the summer of 2007, the treaty is accepted by 129 countries.
While it was agreed that the third to fifth freedoms shall be negotiated between states, the International Air Transport Agreement (or the "Five Freedoms Agreement") was also opened for signatures, encompassing the first five freedoms.
Several other "freedoms" have since been added, although most are not officially recognised under international bilateral treaties they have been agreed by a number of countries; for example, Aer Lingus
had fifth freedom rights through Manchester to various European destinations prior to EU liberalisation and Pan Am had rights through London for many years.
As of the summer of 2007, 129 countries were parties to this treaty, including such large ones as the United States of America, India
, and Australia
. However, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, and China never joined, and Canada left the treaty in 1988. 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.
Since the end of the Cold War
, first freedom rights are almost completely universal, although most countries require prior notification before an overflight, and charge substantial fees for the privilege.
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 IASTA, such fees should not be higher than those charged to domestic airlines engaged in similar international services. Such fees indeed are commonly charged merely for the privilege of the overflight of a country's national territory, when no airport usage is involved. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration
of the U.S., an IASTA signatory, as of 2009 charges the so-called enroute fees, of US$33.72 per 100 nautical miles (185.2 km), of great circle distance from point of entry of an aircraft into the U.S.-controlled airspace to the point of its exit from this airspace. In addition, a lower fee (a so-called oceanic fee) of $15.94 per 100 nautical miles (185.2 km) is charged for flying over the international waters where air traffic is controlled by the U.S., which includes sections of Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans. 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, which cross Siberia.
The most famous example of the second freedom is Shannon Airport
, which was used as a stopping point for most North Atlantic flights until the 1960s. Anchorage
was similarly used for flights between Western Europe and East Asia, bypassing Soviet
airspace, until the 1980s. Anchorage is still used by some mainland Chinese and Taiwanese airlines for flights to the U.S. and Toronto
from mainland China and Taiwan. Also, flights between Europe and South Africa often stopped at Ilha do Sal
(Sal Island), off the coast of Senegal
, due to many African nations refusing to allow South African flights to overfly their territory during the Apartheid regime. Gander, Newfoundland
was also a frequent stopping point for airlines from the USSR and East Germany on the way to the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and South America.
Because of longer range of modern airliners, second freedom rights are comparatively rarely exercised by passenger carriers today, but they are widely used by air cargo carriers, and are more or less universal between countries.
The third freedom was the first commercial freedom.
Third and fourth freedom rights are almost always granted simultaneously in bilateral agreements between countries.
, 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 to a third country (and so on). The "unofficial 'seventh freedom'", is a variation of the fifth freedom and allows international services wholly outside of an airline's origin. An example of a fifth freedom flight is a 2004 Emirates Airlines flight originating in Dubai, then going on to Brisbane, Australia, and then from Brisbane to Auckland, New Zealand, where tickets can be sold on any or all sectors, and in the reverse direction if flights are offered.
Fifth Freedom rights were instrumental to the economic viability of long-haul flight until the early 1980s when advances in technology and increases in passenger volume allowed the introduction of more non-stop
services. It was not uncommon for carriers to schedule multiple stops in foreign countries on the way to a direct flight
's final destination, especially those connecting Europe with Africa, South America and the Far East
. An example of such multi-stage flying is a mid-eighties Rome—Tokyo Alitalia
flight by way of Athens, Delhi, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Such routings in Asia approximated the Silk Road
Fifth freedom flights are still highly common in East Asia, particularly routes serving Tokyo
and the Bangkok
—Hong Kong
route, which, for example, at one point in 2004 was served by at least six airlines not based in either Thailand or Hong Kong. Other major markets which are served by numerous fifth freedom flights include Europe, South America, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, and the Tasman Sea
. Fifth freedom rights are also sought by airlines wishing to take up unserved and underserved routes, or those airlines whose flights already make technical stops at a location as allowed by the second freedom.
Cathay Pacific
, Thai Airways International
, Malaysia Airlines
, Singapore Airlines
and other airlines in Asia use sixth-freedom rights extensively to fly passengers between Europe and Australasia (also known as the Kangaroo Route
). Likewise, American Airlines
connects passengers from Europe and Asia to other countries in the Americas via U.S. ports. British Airways
commonly tickets passengers from America to Asia via London. Icelandair
sells tickets between Europe and North America via Iceland
, Finnair
sells tickets from North America to Asia via Helsinki
.
The seventh freedom is rare because it is usually not in the commercial interest of airlines, except in Europe where an EU open sky has seen many carriers, particularly low cost carriers, operate flights between two points, with neither of them being in their home country. Ryanair
has a wide variety of such routes. On 2 October 2007, the United Kingdom and Singapore signed an agreement that will allow unlimited seventh freedom rights from 30 March 2008 (along with a full exchange of other freedoms of the air).
.
It is extremely rare outside of Europe. The main real life example of eighth-freedom rights is the European Union
, which has granted such rights between all of its member states. Other examples of an exchange of this right include the Single Aviation Market (SAM) established between Australia
and New Zealand
in 1996 and the 2001 Protocol to the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation (MALIAT) between Brunei
, Chile
, New Zealand
and Singapore
. Otherwise, such rights have usually only been granted in isolated instances where the domestic air network is very underdeveloped. A notable instance was Pan Am
's authority to fly between Frankfurt and West Berlin
from the 1950s to 1980s, although political circumstances, not the state of the domestic air network, dictated this - only airlines of the Allied Powers of France, the United Kingdom and the United States had the right to land aircraft in West Berlin. 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 a reflecting political principle rather than an expectation that these rights will be taken up in the near future. New Zealand had previously exchanged eighth-freedom rights with Ireland in 1999.
In the 1950s through the early 1970s, BOAC flights from London to New York to Los Angeles to Honolulu permitted London origination passengers to make stopovers inside the U.S. In the 1980s and 1990s, El Al
Israeli airlines had similar rights for passengers to/from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, which stopped in New York. JAT Yugoslav Airlines
had similar rights in the 1980s from Zagreb
to Chicago to Los Angeles.
Currently, Eva Air of Taiwan flies from Taipei to Seattle to Newark, with the right for Taipei/Newark passengers to make a stopover in Seattle, if continuing later on to Newark, and vice versa. Likewise, Qantas Airways of Australia flies from Sydney to Los Angeles with continuing service to New York-JFK. Qantas is not permitted to sell standalone tickets on the Los Angeles-New York part of this trip, but it does sell tickets that start in New York and connect in Los Angeles to other Qantas flights on to Brisbane or Melbourne. United Airlines flies passengers from Melbourne to Sydney, to connect to its LAX and SFO services.
Sometimes also 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.
The EU agreements mentioned above also fall under this category.
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
(s) the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
. Formulated as a result of disagreements over the extent of aviation liberalisation in the Convention on International Civil Aviation
Convention on International Civil Aviation
The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization , a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel...
of 1944, (known as the Chicago Convention) the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had called for a standardized set of separate air rights which may be negotiated between states but most of the other countries involved were concerned that the size of the U.S. airlines would dominate all world air travel if there were not strict rules.
The convention was successful in drawing 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. As of mid-2007, the treaty is accepted by 129 countries.
While it was agreed that the third to fifth freedoms shall be negotiated between states, the International Air Transport Agreement (or the "Five Freedoms Agreement") was also opened for signatures, encompassing the first five freedoms.
Several other "freedoms" have since been added, although most are not officially recognised under international bilateral treaties they have been agreed by a number of countries; for example, Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...
had fifth freedom rights through Manchester to various European destinations prior to EU liberalisation and Pan Am had rights through London for many years.
Overview
Freedoms of the air apply to commercial aviation (carrying paying passengers, transporting cargo or mail). In the sections below, every freedom is explained thoroughly.freedoms of the air are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
(s) the privilege to enter and land in another country's airspace
Airspace
Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....
. Formulated as a result of disagreements over the extent of aviation liberalisation in the Convention on International Civil Aviation
Convention on International Civil Aviation
The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization , a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel...
of 1944, (known as the Chicago Convention) the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had called for a standardized set of separate air rights which may be negotiated between states but most of the other countries involved were concerned that the size of the U.S. airlines would dominate all world air travel if there were not strict rules.
The convention was successful in drawing 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. As of the summer of 2007, the treaty is accepted by 129 countries.
While it was agreed that the third to fifth freedoms shall be negotiated between states, the International Air Transport Agreement (or the "Five Freedoms Agreement") was also opened for signatures, encompassing the first five freedoms.
Several other "freedoms" have since been added, although most are not officially recognised under international bilateral treaties they have been agreed by a number of countries; for example, Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...
had fifth freedom rights through Manchester to various European destinations prior to EU liberalisation and Pan Am had rights through London for many years.
Overview
Freedoms of the air apply to commercial aviation (carrying paying passengers, transporting cargo or mail). In the sections below, every freedom is explained thoroughly.| Freedom | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | the right to fly over a foreign country, without landing there | Toronto - Mexico City, as a Canadian company, overflying the United States. |
| 2nd | the right to refuel or carry out maintenance in a foreign country on the way to another country | Toronto - Mexico City, as a Canadian company, but stopping for fuel in the United States. |
| 3rd | the right to fly from one's own country to another | Toronto - Chicago, as a Canadian company |
| 4th | the right to fly from another country to one's own | Toronto - Chicago, as an American company |
| 5th | the right to fly between two foreign countries during flights while the flight originates or ends in one's own country | Toronto - Chicago - Mexico City, as a Canadian company |
| 6th | the right to fly from a foreign country to another one while stopping in one's own country for non-technical reasons | Toronto - Chicago - Mexico City, as an American company |
| 7th | the right to fly between two foreign countries while not offering flights to one's own country | Toronto - Mexico City, as an American company |
| 8th | the right to fly between two or more airports in a foreign country while continuing service to one's own country | Chicago - New York - Toronto, as a Canadian company |
| 9th | the right to fly inside a foreign country without continuing service to one's own country | Chicago - New York, as a Canadian company |
First freedom
The first freedom is the right to fly over a foreign country without landing. It is also known as the technical freedom. 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.As of the summer of 2007, 129 countries were parties to this treaty, including such large ones as the United States of America, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. However, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, and China never joined, and Canada left the treaty in 1988. 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.
Since the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, first freedom rights are almost completely universal, although most countries require prior notification before an overflight, and charge substantial fees for the privilege.
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 IASTA, such fees should not be higher than those charged to domestic airlines engaged in similar international services. Such fees indeed are commonly charged merely for the privilege of the overflight of a country's national territory, when no airport usage is involved. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
of the U.S., an IASTA signatory, as of 2009 charges the so-called enroute fees, of US$33.72 per 100 nautical miles (185.2 km), of great circle distance from point of entry of an aircraft into the U.S.-controlled airspace to the point of its exit from this airspace. In addition, a lower fee (a so-called oceanic fee) of $15.94 per 100 nautical miles (185.2 km) is charged for flying over the international waters where air traffic is controlled by the U.S., which includes sections of Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans. 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, which cross Siberia.
Second freedom
The second freedom allows technical stops without the embarking or disembarking of passengers or cargo. It is the right to stop in one country solely for refueling or other maintenance on the way to another country.The most famous example of the second freedom is Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport
Shannon Airport, is one of the Republic of Ireland's three primary airports along with Dublin and Cork. In 2010 around 1,750,000 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and Cork, and the fifth busiest airport on the island...
, which was used as a stopping point for most North Atlantic flights until the 1960s. Anchorage
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Inter-terminal:...
was similarly used for flights between Western Europe and East Asia, bypassing Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
airspace, until the 1980s. Anchorage is still used by some mainland Chinese and Taiwanese airlines for flights to the U.S. and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
from mainland China and Taiwan. Also, flights between Europe and South Africa often stopped at Ilha do Sal
Sal, Cape Verde
Sal is an island in Cape Verde. It belongs to the northern group of islands, called Barlavento. The island is composed by a single administrative division, the Sal municipality. The island is home to Amílcar Cabral International Airport, the main airport of Cape Verde.- Geography :The island is...
(Sal Island), off the coast of Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, due to many African nations refusing to allow South African flights to overfly their territory during the Apartheid regime. Gander, Newfoundland
Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador
Gander is a Canadian town located in the northeastern part of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, approximately south of Gander Bay, south of Twillingate and east of Grand Falls-Windsor...
was also a frequent stopping point for airlines from the USSR and East Germany on the way to the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and South America.
Because of longer range of modern airliners, second freedom rights are comparatively rarely exercised by passenger carriers today, but they are widely used by air cargo carriers, and are more or less universal between countries.
Third freedom
The third freedom is the right to carry passengers or cargo from one's own country to another.The third freedom was the first commercial freedom.
Fourth freedom
The right to carry passengers or cargo from another country to one's own is the fourth freedom.Third and fourth freedom rights are almost always granted simultaneously in bilateral agreements between countries.
Fifth freedom
The fifth freedom, also referred to as beyond rightsBeyond rights
Beyond rights is another name for the Fifth Freedom of air travel, as defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation in 1944, otherwise known as the Chicago Convention....
, 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 to a third country (and so on). The "unofficial 'seventh freedom'", is a variation of the fifth freedom and allows international services wholly outside of an airline's origin. An example of a fifth freedom flight is a 2004 Emirates Airlines flight originating in Dubai, then going on to Brisbane, Australia, and then from Brisbane to Auckland, New Zealand, where tickets can be sold on any or all sectors, and in the reverse direction if flights are offered.
Fifth Freedom rights were instrumental to the economic viability of long-haul flight until the early 1980s when advances in technology and increases in passenger volume allowed the introduction of more non-stop
Non-stop flight
A non-stop flight, especially in the aviation industry, refers to any flight by an aircraft which does not involve any intermediate stops. A "direct flight" is not the same as a "non-stop flight"...
services. It was not uncommon for carriers to schedule multiple stops in foreign countries on the way to a direct flight
Direct flight
A direct flight in the aviation industry is any flight between two points by an airline with no change in flight numbers, which may include a stop over at an intermediate point. The stop over may either be to get new passengers or a mere technical stop over...
's final destination, especially those connecting Europe with Africa, South America and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
. An example of such multi-stage flying is a mid-eighties Rome—Tokyo Alitalia
Alitalia
Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. , in its later stages known as Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. in Extraordinary Administration, was the former Italian flag carrier...
flight by way of Athens, Delhi, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Such routings in Asia approximated the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
Fifth freedom flights are still highly common in East Asia, particularly routes serving Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and the Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
—Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
route, which, for example, at one point in 2004 was served by at least six airlines not based in either Thailand or Hong Kong. Other major markets which are served by numerous fifth freedom flights include Europe, South America, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, and the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
. Fifth freedom rights are also sought by airlines wishing to take up unserved and underserved routes, or those airlines whose flights already make technical stops at a location as allowed by the second freedom.
Sixth freedom
The unofficial sixth freedom combines the third freedom and fourth freedoms and is the right to carry passengers or cargo from a second country to a third country by stopping in one's own country.Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport, although the airline's registered office is on the 33rd floor of One Pacific Place...
, Thai Airways International
Thai Airways International
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited is the national flag carrier and largest airline of Thailand. Formed in 1988, the airline's headquarters are located in Chatuchak District, Bangkok, and operates out of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai is a founding member of the Star Alliance. Thai is a...
, Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysian Airline System Berhad , DBA Malaysia Airlines , is the government-owned flag carrier of Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operates flights from its home base, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and its eastern hub in Kota Kinabalu. It has its headquarters on the grounds of Sultan Abdul Aziz...
, Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines Limited is the flag carrier airline of Singapore. Singapore Airlines operates a hub at Changi Airport and has a strong presence in the Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and "Kangaroo Route" markets...
and other airlines in Asia use sixth-freedom rights extensively to fly passengers between Europe and Australasia (also known as the Kangaroo Route
Kangaroo route
The Kangaroo Route traditionally refers to air routes flown by Qantas between the countries of Australia and the United Kingdom, via the Eastern Hemisphere. The term is trademarked by Qantas, although it is used in the media and by airline competitors....
). Likewise, American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
connects passengers from Europe and Asia to other countries in the Americas via U.S. ports. British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
commonly tickets passengers from America to Asia via London. Icelandair
Icelandair
Icelandair ehf is the flag carrier airline of Iceland, based on the grounds of Reykjavík Airport in Reykjavík. It is part of the Icelandair Group and currently operates scheduled services to 31 cities in 13 countries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean out of its hub at Keflavík International Airport...
sells tickets between Europe and North America via Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, Finnair
Finnair
Finnair Plc is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters on the grounds of Helsinki Airport in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest...
sells tickets from North America to Asia via Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
.
Seventh freedom
The unofficial seventh freedom is a variation of the fifth freedom. It is the right to carry passengers or cargo between two foreign countries without any continuing service to one's own country.The seventh freedom is rare because it is usually not in the commercial interest of airlines, except in Europe where an EU open sky has seen many carriers, particularly low cost carriers, operate flights between two points, with neither of them being in their home country. Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
has a wide variety of such routes. On 2 October 2007, the United Kingdom and Singapore signed an agreement that will allow unlimited seventh freedom rights from 30 March 2008 (along with a full exchange of other freedoms of the air).
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 cabotageCabotage
Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country. Originally starting with shipping, cabotage now also covers aviation, railways and road transport...
.
It is extremely rare outside of Europe. The main real life example of eighth-freedom rights is the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, which has granted such rights between all of its member states. Other examples of an exchange of this right include the Single Aviation Market (SAM) established between Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in 1996 and the 2001 Protocol to the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation (MALIAT) between Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Otherwise, such rights have usually only been granted in isolated instances where the domestic air network is very underdeveloped. A notable instance was Pan Am
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
's authority to fly between Frankfurt and West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
from the 1950s to 1980s, although political circumstances, not the state of the domestic air network, dictated this - only airlines of the Allied Powers of France, the United Kingdom and the United States had the right to land aircraft in West Berlin. In 2005, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
concluded an agreement granting unlimited cabotage rights. Given the distance between the two countries, the agreement can be seen as a reflecting political principle rather than an expectation that these rights will be taken up in the near future. New Zealand had previously exchanged eighth-freedom rights with Ireland in 1999.
In the 1950s through the early 1970s, BOAC flights from London to New York to Los Angeles to Honolulu permitted London origination passengers to make stopovers inside the U.S. In the 1980s and 1990s, El Al
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
Israeli airlines had similar rights for passengers to/from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, which stopped in New York. JAT Yugoslav Airlines
Jat Airways
Jat Airways is the national airline of Serbia and the former national airline of Yugoslavia, and has its head office in the Jat Airways Business Center in Belgrade. It was established in 1927 as Aeroput, making it currently one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation...
had similar rights in the 1980s from Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
to Chicago to Los Angeles.
Currently, Eva Air of Taiwan flies from Taipei to Seattle to Newark, with the right for Taipei/Newark passengers to make a stopover in Seattle, if continuing later on to Newark, and vice versa. Likewise, Qantas Airways of Australia flies from Sydney to Los Angeles with continuing service to New York-JFK. Qantas is not permitted to sell standalone tickets on the Los Angeles-New York part of this trip, but it does sell tickets that start in New York and connect in Los Angeles to other Qantas flights on to Brisbane or Melbourne. United Airlines flies passengers from Melbourne to Sydney, to connect to its LAX and SFO services.
Ninth freedom (stand alone cabotage)
The right to carry passengers or cargo within a foreign country without continuing service to or from one's own country.Sometimes also known as "stand alone cabotage
Cabotage
Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country. Originally starting with shipping, cabotage now also covers aviation, railways and road transport...
." It differs from the aviation definition of "true cabotage," in that it does not directly relate to one's own country.
The EU agreements mentioned above also fall under this category.
See also
- Bilateral agreement
- Bilateral Air Transport AgreementBilateral Air Transport AgreementA bilateral air transport agreement is an agreement which two nations sign to allow international commercial air transport services between their territories....
- Freedom of movementFreedom of movementFreedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...