Aviation Service Agreement

In 1913, in what was probably the first such agreement, a bilateral exchange of notes[1] was signed between Germany and France to provide airship services. The United States has reciprocal open ski air transport with more than 125 partners. These include several important agreements on rights and obligations with several aviation partners: the 2001 Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transport (MALIAT) with New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile, to which Tonga and Mongolia subsequently acceded; the 2007 Air Transport Agreement with the European Union and its Member States; and the 2011 Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America, the European Union and its Member States, Iceland and Norway. The United States maintains more restrictive air transport agreements with a number of other countries, including China. The Bureau of International Aviation and the United States The Department of State negotiates bilateral and multilateral air transport agreements with foreign air partners of the United States. These agreements provide the basis on which airlines of participating countries can provide international air transport services for passengers, cargo and mail. Through air transport agreements, the United States is developing a competitive operating environment for U.S. air services between the United States and abroad. For more information on specific flight service contracts, please contact us. The bilateral system is based on the Chicago Convention and its associated multilateral treaties. The Chicago Convention was signed in December 1944 and has governed international air traffic ever since. The Convention also contains a number of annexes on issues such as aviation security, security oversight, airworthiness, navigation, environmental protection and facilitation (acceleration and departure at airports).

A bilateral air transport agreement will be concluded between two States Parties, liberalizing commercial civil aviation between these countries. Bilateral air transport agreements allow designated air carriers from these countries to operate commercial flights involving the carriage of passengers and cargo between these two countries. They also generally regulate the frequency and capacity of air services between countries, prices and other commercial aspects. An air transport agreement (sometimes referred to as an air transport agreement or ATA or ASA) is a bilateral agreement that allows international commercial air services between signatories. Since 1992, the Department has pursued an « open skies » policy aimed at eliminating government involvement in airline decision-making regarding routes, capacity and prices in international markets. The Open Skies agreements also include provisions on trade opportunities, security and protection. The United States has negotiated open skies agreements with more than 100 aviation partners. In most cases, air services are excluded from U.S. trade agreements.

When air services are included, their coverage is very limited. In these cases, the Bureau of International Aviation works with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of State to ensure that these regulations are consistent with U.S. aviation policy. In the General Agreement on Tariffs for Services (GATS), the Air Transport Annex expressly limits the coverage of air services to aircraft repair and maintenance, computerized reservation systems, and the sale and marketing of air transport. Under our bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), aviation service coverage is limited to aircraft repair and maintenance as well as specialized air services. For more information, please contact us. Air Services Agreements (SAAs) are formal contracts between countries – accompanying Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and the exchange of formal diplomatic notes. It is not mandatory to have an ASA for the operation of international services, but cases where services exist without a contract are rare.

The 1. In May 2001, the United States and Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore signed a multilateral open skies agreement, the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transport (MALIAT). The department continues to challenge our aviation partners to join MALIAT to realize Open Skies with several partners. In 1944, as World War II drew to a close, 54 countries came to the conference in Chicago, USA, to discuss the future of international aviation. The conference led to the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, commonly known as the Chicago Convention. The Chicago Convention laid down the operating rules for international air transport. It also established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations organization responsible for promoting the planning and development of international air transport (ICAO, 2011)1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Ministries of Transport and Trade, negotiates agreements with foreign governments that provide the framework for commercial air transport. The most liberal of these civil aviation agreements, the so-called « open skies » agreements, created the possibility of expanding international passenger and cargo flights to and from the United States. They promote economic growth by increasing travel and trade, increasing productivity and creating quality employment opportunities. Open Skies agreements achieve this by eliminating government intervention in airlines` business decisions regarding routes, capacity and prices, giving airlines the opportunity to offer consumers and shippers more affordable, convenient and efficient air travel. Bilateral air transport agreements were then developed into multilateral air transport agreements.

« A multilateral air transport agreement is the same as a bilateral air transport agreement, the only difference is that it affects more than two contracting states » (Wikipedia)4. These agreements later led to another form of agreement known as the Open Skies Agreement. The Chicago Convention stipulates that no scheduled international air service may be operated over or to the territory of a State Party without its authorization. In the years that followed, ICAO developed a set of traffic rights known as The Freedoms of the Air. These freedoms still form the basis of the rights traded in air services negotiations (The Australian Government. Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, 2009)2. Since the use of aircraft within the borders of a single country makes no economic sense, it has become necessary for countries to find a way to expand their areas of operation. This situation has led to several agreements between countries concluded in the form of bilateral air transport agreements between two countries. One of the first air transport agreements after World War II was the Bermuda Agreement. This agreement was signed in 1946 by the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The characteristics of the Bermuda Agreement became models for the many such agreements that would follow (Kasper, 1988).3 One of the first ATAs after World War II was the Bermuda Agreement, signed by the United Kingdom and the United States in 1946. The features of this agreement have become models for the thousands of such agreements to follow, although in recent decades some of the traditional clauses of these agreements have been modified (or « liberalized ») in line with the « open skies » policy adopted by some governments, notably the United States.

[2] The U.S. open skies policy went hand in hand with the globalization of U.S. airlines. By giving U.S. airlines unlimited access to our partners` market, as well as the right to fly to points in between and beyond, Open Skies agreements provide U.S. airlines around the world with maximum operational flexibility. Since 1992, the United States has pursued an « open skies » policy aimed at preventing government interference in airlines` decision-making regarding routes, capacity, and prices in international markets. .