Freedoms of The Air

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 "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.