Fiji Aviation Policy and "Open Skies" with the United States

Following the announcement of a Cabinet decision on 9 April 2024 that also agreed to a mandate for negotiating an "open skies" agreement with the United States, in May 2024 the Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji, Hon. Viliame Gavoka, signed off on a new Aviation Policy that allows for "liberalisation of air transport on a case-by-case basis, in the national interest."

A new "open skies" air transport agreement between Fiji and the United States of America was signed between the two countries on 28 August 2024.

Podcasts

A couple of years ago when I first got an iPhone I downloaded from iTunes and listened to an aviation podcast. I was not impressed as the speakers were amateur enthusiasts who were clearly not that well informed.

I then started listening to EconTalk, a series of excellent podcasts by economist Russ Roberts from GMU in Virginia (he also blogs at Cafe Hayek). Each week he interviews at length a distinguished economist in a manner that is not overly technical.

For lighter relief I have been listening to the Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4. These generally take the form of a quiz or short monologues focussed on the latest political news from the UK.

More recently, I have been listening to a couple of much more professionally done aviation podcasts.

• Airplane Geeks (@AirplaneGeeks) - from the USA
• Plane Crazy Down Under (@pcdu) - from Victoria, Australia

They have turned out to be excellent with coverage of civil and miltary aviation, including aviation history and technology. I have been listening to older episodes and have even sent off a couple of possible "Grill the Geeks" questions to the USA.

These have all been great listening while walking our two dogs.

APEC Transportation Ministers meet in San Francisco

APEC Transportation Ministers met in San Francisco on 14 September 2011. The Ministerial Joint Statement released at the meeting makes specific mention of the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation (MALIAT).

APEC has long taken an interest in the economic regulation of international air transport. In the late 1990s it developed and prioritised eight options for reform and these were endorsed when APEC Leaders met and issued the Auckland Challenge on 13 September 1999 (see page 4).

Guiding APEC's work in trade have been the Bogor goals set by Leaders in 1994.

Getting Paid by Gov't. for NOT Flying Passengers

A weblog post on Carpe Diem from a US economist, Mark Perry, about the Essential Air Service Program in the United States where they have a fiscal crisis, CARPE DIEM: Getting Paid by Gov't. for NOT Flying Passengers, caught my attention. For a mad moment I have been contemplating how I would answer his question: "... what is the best kind of airplane not to fly passengers on ..."

US Congress to ban US airlines participating in EU ETS?

On 20 July 2011 the US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced that it is intended to ban US airlines participating in the "illegal" coverage of international aviation by the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme by means of a short, 5-section Bill.

GreenAir Online covers the development in a 21 July 2011 article, and includes reaction from MEPs.

Many such bills will not make it into law but the fact that this one has bipartisan support suggests that it should not be taken lightly. With key interests in both the United States and China (see previous post) both firmly opposed to the unilateral action being taken by the European Union, as Flightglobal journalist Will Horton has noted, this could get ugly.

US airlines case against EU ETS coverage heard by European Court of Justice

On 5 July 2011 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) heard a case (C-366/10) brought by the US Air Transport Association (ATA), American Airlines and United Continental Holdings against their inclusion the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)(see previous post).

The ATA has published it oral argument and written observations here.

The Aviation Environment Federation issued a statement noting some of the arguments put in favour of the legality of extending coverage.

The hearing was covered 6 July 2011 articles in Air Transport World and Aviation Week.

An opinion on the case will be delivered by the Advocate General on 6 October 2011 with a final judgement to follow later.

"Aerotropolis - The Way We'll Live Next" by John Kasarda and Greg Lindsay

I had expected that this book would be more of an academic work than what it is - largely one of business journalism - but it is well worth a read nonetheless.

Aerotropolis gives a good picture of the role that civil aviation is now playing in globalisation, and how airports have become central to modern economies and urban development.

Featured in the book are developments around:

• Incheon (ICN) - where a new city, Songdo, is being built
• Los Angeles (LAX) - where the airport had not been supported
• Dulles (IAD) - near Washington DC in a wealthy and growing part of Virginia
• Chicago (ORD) - where there were plans for an additional airport
• Memphis (MEM) and Louisville (SDF) - hubs for FedEx and UPS respectively
• Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) - hub for American Airlines
• Detroit (DTW) - second hub for Delta with links to Asia and looking to build a Detroit Region Aerotropolis
• Denver (DEN) - where a completely new airport was opened
• Amsterdam (AMS) - with its associated flower market
• Dubai (DXB), Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Doha (DOH) - with their competing global ambitions
• Bangkok (BKK) - where a new airport has been built on a swamp
• Hong Kong (HKG), Guangzhou (CAN) and Shenzhen (SZX) - vital to the success of manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta

For me, the book's coverage of developments in China was the most interesting, perhaps because it was the least familiar.

Memorable concepts from the book include:

• "Kasarda's Law of Connectivity: every technology meant to circumvent distances electronically ... will only stoke our desire to transverse [distance] ourselves."
• "Individual companies don't compete. Supply chains compete. Networks and systems compete."
• Marchetti's Constant

One piece of advice that is actually included late in the book. Use Google Earth while reading "Aerotropolis" to get an idea of the lie of the land around the airports being referred to.

Reviews of the book have appeared in:

• Kirkus Reviews 15 December 2010
• Bloomberg Businessweek 24 February 2011
• FT Magazine 25 February 2011
• Wall Street Journal 2 March 2011
• New York Times 4 March 2011
• The Independent 4 March 2011
• The Telegraph 13 March 2011
• The Guardian 19 March 2011
• Barnes and Noble Review 22 March 2011
• The Scotsman 27 March 2011
• The Enlightened Economist 28 April 2011
• London Review of Books 28 April 2011 
• History Books Review 27 May 2011
• Los Angeles Review of Books 30 May 2011

It is clear that civil aviation in general and the future that Kasarda outlines have their sceptics and this book is somewhat provocative.

An earlier 1 July 2006 article, Rise of the Aerotropolis, on the concept by Greg Lindsay appeared in Fast Company.

Qantas and American Airlines seek approval for Joint Business Agreement

Just two days after interim US DOT approval of the alliance between Delta and Virgin Blue was announced (see previous post), oneworld alliance members Qantas and American Airlines on 12 May 2011 filed with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for approval of a Joint Business Agreement (JBA). (The reference for the parallel filing made with the US Department of Transportation is DOT-OST-2011-0111.)

On 16 May 2011 Qantas announced that it had commenced direct flights from Sydney (SYD) to American's major hub Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) returning to SYD via Brisbane (BNE). Qantas uses its B747-400ER aircraft for this ultra-long-range operation. On 14 May 2011 Qantas ceased operating to San Francisco (SFO).

Interim approval was granted by the ACCC on 9 June 2011.

Virgin Blue alliance with Delta approved by US DOT

On 10 May 2011 the US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that, after substantial changes had been made to the application (docket DOT-OST-2009-0155), it proposed to approve anti-trust immunity for an alliance between Delta Air Lines and Virgin Blue Airlines (see previous post).

This came after a 2 May 2011 announcement that the two airlines were expanding their code-share arrangements.

Note that on 4 May 2011 Virgin Blue announced that it was changing its name to Virgin Australia.

On 10 June 2011 the two airlines announced that they welcomed final US DOT approval of the alliance.

The 1935 UK-USA bilateral air navigation arrangement

The arrangements on air services reached between the United Kingdom and the United States of America at Bermuda in 1946 created a model for many of the bilateral air services arrangements (see previous post).

What is less widely know are the details of the earlier 1935 arrangement that took the form of an Exchange of Notes (EoN) on 28 March and 5 April.

In this EoN can be seen many of the features that would appear in post Second World War bilaterals.

What is notably missing from the EoN is the right for UK airlines to operate to Hawaii.

As Dutch aviation historian Marc Dierikx notes in his article "Shaping world aviation. Anglo-American civil aviation relations, 1944-1946" (Journal of Air Law and Commerce 57(1992) nr. 4, p. 795-840), the EoN did not come into practical effect until the airlines of both sides (Pan American and Imperial Airways) were ready to commence regular flying boat operations across the Atlantic. This did not happen until 1939.

Saudi Arabia initials "open skies" agreement with the United States

On 18 April 2011 the United States Department of State announced that it had initialled an "open skies" agreement with Saudi Arabia.

Next air services negotiating priorities for the United States

On 31 March 2011 Air Transport World reported US Assistant Secretary for State Jose Fernandez as saying that the next air services negotiation priorities for the United States are China, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.

Wikileaks releases diplomatic cables on UK position during EU-US air negotiations

The Telegraph has published a confidential diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in London dated 4 February 2010 concerning the UK position with respect to the second set of air services negotiations between the European Commission and the United States (see previous post). An earlier related unclassified cable dated 11 March 2009 was also released. Both cables were obtained via Wikileaks.

Issues to feature include the restrictive US position on foreign ownership of airlines and anti-trust immunity for oneworld alliance members (this was subsequently granted - see previous post).

The Guardian carried a report dated 14 February 2011 on the two leaked cables.

While there can be little doubt that for the academic community Wikileaks is providing a valuable source of current history and for the news media plenty to write about, much of what is released shows US diplomats very professionally going about their work. Some of the disclosures have already been damaging, and not just to US interests. It also no doubt leaves many people who deal with US diplomats (including me) wondering how free and frank one can be in conversation. This can only be to the detriment of better international understanding. When it comes to foreign relations I for one think that there are communications that should legitimately not be dropped into the public arena.

Brazil concludes "open skies" agreement with the USA

On 6 December 2010 the United States Department of State announced that on 3 December 2010 the United States had initialled an "open skies" Air Transport Agreement with Brazil.

Colombia becomes 100th "open skies" partner for the USA

On 12 November 2010 the United States Department of Transportation announced that its 100th "open skies" relationship had been established with the negotiation of an agreement with Colombia.

The 11 November 2010 Memorandum of Consultations and Air Transport Agreement are available online from the United States Department of State's web site.

Alliances approved, Japan-USA 'open skies' signed and Haneda open for international flights ...

... in that order.

On 6 October 2010 the US Department for Transportation announced that it proposed to approve alliances between American Airlines and Japan Airlines, and separately between United Airlines, Continental Airlines and All Nippon Airways (DOT-OST-2010-0059 refers).

On 25 October 2010 the US Department of State announced that 'open skies' air services arrangements had just been signed between Japan and the United States (see previous post).

On 31 October 2010 Mainichi Daily News reported that Haneda Airport (HND), close to central Tokyo, opened for international air services. Flightglobal reported that the first international flights by JAL and ANA actually departed on 30 October, just before midnight, and reported that the airport's new, fourth runway and international terminal opened on 21 October. International landing and takeoff slots at Haneda are very limited and have been sought by many countries.

The Airline Route web site currently has a section devoted to the new Haneda international services and links to a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism document on the subject dated 23 October 2010 (in Japanese).

Australian Department intervenes to support Delta-V Australia alliance proposal

The newly renamed Australian Federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport has intervened in the case before the US Department for Transportation (DoT) seeking anti-trust immunity for an alliance between Delta Air Lines and the Virgin Blue group (see previous post), including V Australia, writing a letter dated 13 October 2010 to DoT supporting the application.

This case leaves one thinking that the Japanese approach of not implementing its new bilateral air transportation arrangements with the United States until various anti-trust immunities were first granted was totally understandable.

ICAO Assembly to debate US proposal on mechanism to liberalise restrictions on foreign ownership of airlines

The triennial International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly is about to start in Montreal and will run from 28 September to 8 October 2010.

Of particular interest from an aeropolitical perspective will be the debate in the Economic Commission under agenda item 49 "Liberalization of international air transport services" on working paper A37-WP/190 "Facilitating airline access to international capital markets" presented by the United States. This paper also presents a draft multilateral agreement (see previous post). It will be very interesting to see whether the ICAO membership is prepared to take up this initiative and work on it.

Under the same agenda item, there is also a reference in paragraph 2.3 in working paper A37-WP/5 "Developments in international air transport regulation and liberalization" from the Council of ICAO to research carried out by the Secretariat quantifying liberalisation of international air services arrangements. However, I have not seen whether this research has been made public. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has already done comprehensive work in this area (see previous post).

Environmental issues too can be expected to be the subject of attention at this Assembly although I would not expect that member states will be prepared to take a different approach at ICAO on the issue of addressing climate change from that they take in other fora, notably the UNFCCC.

US DoT gives a tentative No to Delta-Virgin Blue group alliance

On 8 September 2010 the United States Department of Transportation (DoT) announced a draft decision to deny the application by Delta Air Lines and the Virgin Blue group for anti-trust immunity (DOT-OST-2009-0155) and issued a 13-page Order to Show Cause (see previous post).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had previously approved this alliance (see previous post).

Further planned airline arrivals and departures in the New Zealand market

On 26 May 2010 Continental Airlines (CO) announced that it plans to operate its new B787-8 aircraft non-stop between Houston and Auckland from 16 November 2011. Auckland Airport also issued a statement welcoming its returning customer.

Continental and United Airlines (UA) announced on 3 May 2010 that they proposed to merge. On 27 May 2010 the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the issues raised by the proposed merger. Committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives have also held hearings. On 27 July 2010 the merger received a clearance from the European Commission but is still awaiting a decision from the US regulatory authorities, in this case the Department of Justice.

On 21 June 2010 Jetstar announced that Jetstar Airways would be operating non-stop services between Singapore and Auckland using A330 aircraft on behalf of Jetstar Asia (3K) from 18 March 2011.

On 28 July 2010 Aircargo Asia-Pacific reported that Cargolux (CV) is suspending it operations to Australia and New Zealand. The last flight will operate on 28/29 August 2010.