Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T05:50:27.603Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Liberalization of air transport services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

By
Christopher Findlay  and
Deunden Nikomborirak
Edited by
Will Martin  and
Mari Pangestu
Christopher Findlay
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics in the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management Australian National University
Deunden Nikomborirak
Affiliation:
Research Director, Economic Governance Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), Bangkok
Will Martin
Affiliation:
The World Bank
Mari Pangestu
Affiliation:
The World Bank
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Air transport, at least, the direct provision of the service, is currently excluded from the provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by a special annex. However the GATS also contains a provision that the

Council for Trade in Services shall review periodically, and at least every five years, developments in the air transport sector and the operation of this Annex with a view to considering the possible further application of the Agreement in this sector.

A review of the current treatment of air transport began in 2000 and participants were unable to reach agreement in December 2000 on how to proceed. A fundamental desire by many members to retain the current bilateral system of air traffic rights was an important consideration, although important technical issues revolved around the coverage of the exclusion. Although there does not appear to be much support for abolishing the annex, many members are interested in ways to improve the operation of this important sector (WTO 2001). While many of the recent changes in the sector, such as the formation of airline alliances, clearly have some important advantages, there are also significant concerns about issues such as market power at hub airports, and the asymmetries associated with some “open skies” agreements.

This chapter outlines the features of the current arrangements for the regulation of trade and investment in the sector. It reviews some routes to reform, including the multilateral track and options for dealing with air transport in the GATS.

Type
Chapter
Information
Options for Global Trade Reform
A View from the Asia-Pacific
 , pp. 117 - 144
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (1998), Ansett, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines Alliance Agreement: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Final Determination, Canberra
Australian Productivity Commission (1998), International Air Services, Report 2, Ausinfo, Canberra, http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiry/airserv/finalrep/index.html, and Inquiry Report 11, Melbourne, September
Ballantyne, T. (1996). “New group on the bloc”, Airline Business 12 (9): 100Google Scholar
Drysdale, P., Elek, A., and Soesastro H. (1998), “Open regionalism: the nature of Asia Pacific integration”, in P. Drysdale and D. Vines (eds.), Europe, East Asia and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation: A Shared Global Agenda, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Elek, A., Findlay, C., Hooper, P., andWarren, T.(1999), “Open skies or Open Clubs: new issues for Asia Pacific economic cooperation”, Journal of Air Transport Management, 5: 143–151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunther, J. (1999), “The review of the General Agreement on Trade in Services air transport Annex – an International Civil Aviation Organization perspective”, paper presented to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Expert Meeting on Air Transport Services, Geneva, June 21–23
Morrison, S. andWinston, C.(1989), “Enhancing the performance of the deregulated air transportation system”, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Microeconomics: 61–123, 67CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nikomborirak, D. (1999), “A survey of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations airline industry: what lies ahead after the crisis?”, TDRI Research Paper, Bangkok
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1997), The Future of International Air Transport Policy: Responding to Global Change, Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Oum, Tae Hoon and Chunyan Yu (1998), Winning Airlines: Productivity and Cost Competitiveness of the World's Major Airlines, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic
Snape, R. (1996), “Which regional trade agreement?”, in Bijit, B. and Findlay, C. (eds.), Regional Integration and the Asia Pacific, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, ch. 4
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Secretariat (1999), “Air transport services: the positive agenda for developing countries”, TD/B/COM.1/EM.9/2
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (1999), “Report of the Expert Meeting on Air Transport Services: clarifying issues to define elements of the positive agenda of developing countries as regards both the General Agreement on Trade in Services and specific sector negotiations of interest to them”, June 21–23, TD/B/COM.1/EM.9/3
Warren, T., Tamms, V., and Findlay, C. (1999), “Beyond the bilateral system: competition policy and trade in international aviation services”, paper presented at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting and Meeting of the Transportation and Public Utilities Group, January 3, New York, and later at the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council Trade Policy Forum, Auckland, June 3–4
World Trade Organization (1998), “Air Transport Services: Background Note by the Secretariat”, Council for Trade in Services, World Trade Organization, S/C/W/59
World Trade Organization (2001), “Report of the Second Session of the Review Mandated under Paragraph 5 of the Air Transport Annex: Note by Secretariat”, World Trade Organization S/C/M/50, March 5

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×