On 5 November 2002, the European Court of Justice delivered its 'open-skies' judgment, a landmark decision which may be the beginning of a new era in the regulation of international air law. The consequences of this judgment may not only affect the European Union and its Member States; this book shows how it could change the future regulation of international aviation worldwide. The first part of this book describes the difficulties arising from the fact that the competence for the regulation of air transportation in Europe is divided between the EU and the Member States. This division of power will also affect the conclusion of air-service agreements made with countries outside of Europe. In the second part of the book, the author examines a subject that was not part of the 'open-skies' judgment, but which he believes will become a problematic consequence: the distribution of air-traffic rights within the European Union.
This book offers an extraordinary wealth of information, from the ground up, of the law governing and regulating air transport today, with a strong emphasis on international aviation. A team of distinguished authors in the field of aviation law provide a cogent synthesis from which sound legal opinions and strategies of legal action may be confidently built. Among the many topics here in depth are the following: definition and classification of airspace; distinction between civil and state aircraft; air navigation and air traffic control services; airport charges and overflight charges; structure of ICAO; standard-setting functions and audit functions of ICAO; functions of the International Air Transport Association (IATA); policy and effects of deregulation and liberalization of air transport policy; the International Registry for Aircraft Equipment; air carrier liability regimes and claims procedure; measures to combat aviation terrorism, air piracy and sabotage; and the Open Skies Agreements. This publication cites significant legislation and court rulings, including from the United States and the European Union, where far-reaching measures on market access, competition and passenger rights have set trends for other regions of the world. The special case of Latin America has a chapter to itself. At a time when commercial aircraft have been used as lethal weapons for the first time, aviation law finds itself in the front line of responsibility for maintaining global aviation security.
Once a byword for the economic power of national government - with competition strictly regulated - European commercial aviation has now virtually become a market without state-imposed anticompetitive restrictions. Although intended to enhance competition, this situation has in fact driven airlines to form massive global alliances cartels that offer ever-shrinking benefits to the consumer. In this extraordinarily thorough, blow-by-blow analysis of how this happened ? or was allowed to happen ? one of the world?s most eminent aviation law authorities explores the subject with a lucid insight fully informed by historical breadth and a keen appreciation of current pressures. Commercial aviation emerges as the crucible par excellence of the convergence of prevailing global ideology, economics, and international law. Among the numerous interrelated topics investigated in depth by Professor Dempsey, the following may be mentioned: the principal actors, including scores of airlines, the European Union, and a number of air transport associations; the labyrinth of bilateral air transport agreements; the relevance of the Treaty of Rome?s competition rules and the EU merger regulations to air transport; the important Court of Justice cases that circumscribed the zone of application in which the competition rules can regulate air transport: French Seamen?s Case, Transport Policy Decision, Olympic Airway, Nouvelles Fronti?res, Ahmed Saeed, and the 2002 `Open Skies? Decision; the 1991 U.S.-EC agreement regarding the application of competition laws; the sequence of EU aviation regulatory `packages?; regulation of non-economic issues (air traffic congestion, noise limitations, air carrier liability, civil aviation accident/incident investigations, denied boarding compensation); the effect of the U.S. government?s increasing invocation of antitrust immunity; computer reservation systems (especially code-sharing procedures); jointly-owned web sites for ticket sales and other e-commerce joint ventures; frequent flyer program alliances; and the emergence of global megacarriers. The author?s presentation emphasizes the regulatory constructs that currently affect the European air transport market: pricing and tariffs, pooling of revenue, market access (licensing, capacity limits, traffic rights, slot allocation), ground handlings, cargo services, state aid, and the power of the EU to act on the commercial aviation world stage for Member States. Each of these areas of analysis begins with an overview of the general regulatory environment for that area followed by a detailed chronological delineation of relevant packages, proposals, resolutions, and regulations. Because of the enormous role played by international air transport with respect to gross national product, employment, and energy consumption, European Aviation Law is of great importance not only to European lawyers but to officials, policymakers, practitioners, and academics in a number of relevant fields worldwide.
This groundbreaking book offers a critical and wide-ranging assessment of the global air transport liberalization process over the past 40 years. This compilation of world experts on air transport economics, policy, and regulation is timely and significant, considering that air transport is currently facing a series of new challenges due to technological changes, the emergence of new markets, and increased security concerns.
This book considers the current legal issues affecting the air transport sector incorporating recent developments in the air transport sector, including the end of certain exemptions from EU competition rules, the effect of the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, the accession of new EU Member States and the Lisbon Treaty. The book explores the differing European and US regulatory approaches to the changes in the industry and examines how airlines have remained economically efficient in what is perceived as a complex and confused regulatory environment.
The aviation sector consists of various actors such as airlines, ground handling companies, and others all with conflicting priorities. In order to understand how these actors position themselves in an increasingly competitive market, The Air Transportation Industry: Economic Conflict and Competition analyzes all the market segments in detail, examining such issues as which industrial economic structure drives decisions, the main economic problems, the consequences for negotiations between different actors, impacts on the global aviation market, and much more. This book covers the entire aviation sector including strategies, regulation, resilience, privatization, airport slot management, and more. It examines how economic and strategic struggles underlie the current market structure, both for aviation as a whole and for the constituent actors as carriers, authorities, and handlers. It examines the ways market and nonmarket approaches impact the competitiveness of the air transport industry, offering a complete mapping of the economic actions between actors of the air transport industry. This volume will help readers gain insight into the possible strategic choices and the mutual competitive strength within the future aviation market. - Contains contributions from well-known aviation scholars - Includes numerous cases studies throughout that explore a wide range of topics - Focuses on applied knowledge, with clearly structured chapters examining topics from a global perspective - Addresses the ongoing consequences of COVID-19 on the air transportation industry, examining potential strategic responses in the event of subsequent pandemics
The past thirty years have witnessed a transformation of government economic intervention in broad segments of industry throughout the world. Many industries historically subject to economic price and entry controls have been largely deregulated, including natural gas, trucking, airlines, and commercial banking. However, recent concerns about market power in restructured electricity markets, airline industry instability amid chronic financial stress, and the challenges created by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to participate in investment banking, have led to calls for renewed market intervention. Economic Regulation and Its Reform collects research by a group of distinguished scholars who explore these and other issues surrounding government economic intervention. Determining the consequences of such intervention requires a careful assessment of the costs and benefits of imperfect regulation. Moreover, government interventions may take a variety of forms, from relatively nonintrusive performance-based regulations to more aggressive antitrust and competition policies and barriers to entry. This volume introduces the key issues surrounding economic regulation, provides an assessment of the economic effects of regulatory reforms over the past three decades, and examines how these insights bear on some of today’s most significant concerns in regulatory policy.
State intervention in air transport is omnipresent. Airlines, in particular, are major beneficiaries of State aid. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the law regulating State aids to airlines, which includes sections on Articles 107 TFEU and 108 TFEU as well as an overview of legal issues raised by air transport and competition in the EU, in particular deregulation and its consequences. EU Law on State Aid to Airlines follows a multi-disciplinary approach by relying on the fundamental concepts of economics and policy analysis. This approach allows grasping the wider implications of this sector's issues for the field of State Aid, in particular in the light of the 'more economic approach' and the 'balancing test'. Furthermore, additional perspective is given on State aid law in the air transport sector through comparative analyses of regulations in the United States and Switzerland and outlooks on international relations. Finally, the book presents a number of recent Commission decisions with a dramatic importance for the air transport, with the opening of formal investigation procedures regarding alleged State aid to low-cost airlines operating from regional airports all over Europe. Magnus Schmauch is Legal Secretary at the EFTA Court in the Chambers of judge Pall Hreinsson. Previous experience includes four years as a lawyer at the Court of Justice of the European Union. He has published a large number of articles on State aid and other fields of EU law and teaches on EU law and fundamental rights at the University of Lund, Sweden.
This book takes a look at the critical issues facing the airline industry featuring contributions from key figures in Europe, the US and Asia. Elements for success and failure are discussed and material is offered for strategic thinking.
