Open Skies - First Step Towards A Civil Transport Regime

First Step Towards A Civil Transport Regime

The Convention on International Civil Aviation (1944), signed at Chicago (Also called the Chicago Convention), was intended to prepare a framework within which civil air transport could develop (not military or other state activities whether in a piloted or drone craft). It introduced nine freedoms of the air for those states that have adopted the Convention and enter into bilateral treaties that may grant any of the following rights or privileges for scheduled international air services:

1. To fly across the territory of either state without landing.
2. To land in either state for non-traffic purposes, e.g., refueling without boarding or disembarking passengers.
3. To land in the territory of the first state and disembark passengers coming from the home state of the airline.
4. To land in the territory of the first state and board passengers travelling to the home state of the airline.
5. To land in the territory of the first state and board passengers travelling on to a third state where the passengers disembark, e.g., a scheduled flight from the United States to France could pick up traffic in the UK and take all to France (sometimes termed beyond rights).
6. To transport passengers moving between two other states via the home state of the airline, e.g. a scheduled flight on an American airline from the United Kingdom lands in the U.S. and then goes on to Canada on the same aircraft.
7. To transport passengers between the territory of the granting State and any third State state without going through the home state of the airline, e.g. a scheduled flight on an American airline from the UK to Canada that does not connect to or extend any service to/from the U.S..
8. To transport cabotage traffic between two points in the territory of the granting State on a service which originates or terminates in the home state of the foreign carrier or (in connection with the so-called Seventh Freedom) outside the territory of the granting State (also known as consecutive cabotage), e.g. an American airline flies from the U.S., lands passengers in London and then boards passengers to fly to Manchester.
9. To transport cabotage traffic of the granting State on a service performed entirely within the territory of the granting State (also known as stand alone cabotage), e.g. a British airline operates a service between Perth and Sydney in Australia).

Because only the first five "freedoms" have been officially recognised by international treaties, the ICAO considers the remaining "freedoms" "so-called".