RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
28 September 2007 
 (07-4065) 
Council for Trade in Services  
 
   
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT
1 
 
 
SECOND REVIEW OF THE AIR TRANSPORT ANNEX 
 
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE AIR TRANSPORT SECTOR 
 
 
 
(PART THREE) 
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page iii  
 
 
  TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... ..1 
I. PLURILATERAL AIR SERVI CES AGREEMENTS ..........................................................5  
A. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................9  
1. Documentary problems ........................................................................................................... .9 
2. Lack of information on signature, ratification and entry into force ..................................16  
3. Lack of information on the eff ective degree of implementation .........................................17  
4. Imperfect application of the QUASAR methodology ..........................................................17  
5. Difficulties related to the coding of plurilateral ASAs.........................................................18  
Annex I........................................................................................................................ ..........................20  
B. LEGAL AND TRAFFIC PROFILES OF PLURILATERAL AIR SERVICES AGREEMENTS ....................23  
C. MAIN CONCLUSIONS ...............................................................................................................209  
1. Traffic covered ................................................................................................................ ......209  
2. Degree of openness of plurilateral agreements...................................................................212  
3. Types of plurilateral agreements.........................................................................................214  
4. Analysis by features ........................................................................................................... ...215  
(i) Fifth freedom traffic rights................................................................................................... ...215  
(ii) Seventh freedom traffic rights................................................................................................. 215 
(iii) Cabotage....................................................................................................................... ..........216  
(iv) Tariffs........................................................................................................................ ..............216  
(v) Capacity....................................................................................................................... ...........216  
(vi) Designation.................................................................................................................... .........217  
(vii) Withholding.................................................................................................................... .........217  
(viii) Cooperative arrangements......................................................................................................2 18 
(ix) Exchange of statistics......................................................................................................... .....218  
II. ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL SITUATION OF SCHEDULED PASSENGER 
AIRLINES ....................................................................................................................... ......221  
A. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS ....................................................................................................221  
1. Traffic ........................................................................................................................ ............221  
(a) Global tendencies.............................................................................................................. ......221  
(b) Regional developments.......................................................................................................... .223 
2. Employment ..................................................................................................................... .....224  
3. Operations of the majo r passenger ca rriers .......................................................................224  
B. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE .....................................................................................................228  
C. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT ..........................................................................................................229  
III.  ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY DEVELO PMENTS IN SPECIFIC AREAS ........237  
A. LOW-COST CARRIER SERVICES ................................................................................................237  
1. What makes a carrier low-cost? ..........................................................................................237  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page iv  
 
  2.
 Economic and regulatory de velopments by region............................................................241  
(a) The Americas................................................................................................................... .......243  
(i) United States.................................................................................................................. .........243  
(ii) Canada......................................................................................................................... ...........245  
(iii) Brazil, Chile and Mexico ....................................................................................................... .246 
(b) Middle East and Africa ......................................................................................................... ..247  
(c) Asia ........................................................................................................................... ..............248  
(i) Malaysia....................................................................................................................... ...........250  
(ii) Singapore...................................................................................................................... ..........251  
(iii) Thailand....................................................................................................................... ...........252  
(iv) Indonesia...................................................................................................................... ...........252  
(v) Japan.......................................................................................................................... .............253  
(vi) India.......................................................................................................................... ..............253  
(vii) China.......................................................................................................................... .............254  
(viii) Others......................................................................................................................... .............255  
(d) Oceania ........................................................................................................................ ...........256  
(e) Europe......................................................................................................................... ............258  
3. The spread of the low-cost model – catalysts and implications ........................................262  
B. NON-SCHEDULED PASSENGER AIR TRANSPORT SERVICES ......................................................267  
1. Economic developments .......................................................................................................267  
2. Regulatory developments at ICAO .....................................................................................271  
C. REGIONAL AIR TRANSPORT SERVICES .....................................................................................277  
1. Overall developments ........................................................................................................... 277 
2. Regional deve lopments .........................................................................................................2 80 
(a) North America .................................................................................................................. ......280  
(b) Europe......................................................................................................................... ............283  
(c) Latin America .................................................................................................................. .......284  
(d) Africa and the Middle East ..................................................................................................... 285 
(e) Asia-Pacific................................................................................................................... ..........286  
D. GENERAL AVIATION SERVICES ................................................................................................291  
1. Economic developments .......................................................................................................291  
(a) General aviation as a whole .................................................................................................... 291 
(b) Business aviation .............................................................................................................. ......292  
(c) Aerial work .................................................................................................................... .........297  
2. Regulatory developments .....................................................................................................298  
(a) Multilateral developments ...................................................................................................... 298 
(i) ICAO ........................................................................................................................... ............298  
(ii) International Business Aviation Council ................................................................................300   S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page v  
 
 
  (b) Bilateral Developments......................................................................................................... ..301  
(i) Free Trade Agreements signed by the United States ..............................................................301  
(ii) US – European Community relations .....................................................................................301  
(iii) Relations between the European Comm unity and its trading partners ..................................302  
(c) Regional and national developments ......................................................................................302  
(i) European Civil Aviation Conference ......................................................................................302  
(ii) Joint Aviation Authorities and the Eu ropean Aviation Safety Agency....................................303  
(iii) European Community ............................................................................................................. 303 
(iv) United States.................................................................................................................. .........304  
E. AIR CARGO SERVICES ..............................................................................................................309  
1. Commercial developments ...................................................................................................309  
(a) Traffic trends................................................................................................................. ..........309  
(b) Inter-modal competition........................................................................................................ ..316  
(c) Economic trends affecting actors in the air freight supply chain............................................317  
(i) Developments affecting carriers .............................................................................................317  
(a) Low-cost carriers and leisure carriers........................................................................................ 3 20 
(b) Belly ca rriers ................................................................................................................. ............ 321  
(c) Mixed fleet carriers ........................................................................................................... ........ 321  
(d) All-cargo carriers............................................................................................................. .......... 323  
(e) Express car riers ............................................................................................................... .......... 323  
(ii) Trends affecting other actors in the air freight supply chain..................................................324  
(a) Freight forwarders ............................................................................................................. ........ 324  
(b) Airports....................................................................................................................... ............... 325  
(c) Other service providers involved in the air trans port chai n....................................................... 329  
(d) Other economic developments................................................................................................329  
2. Regulatory Developments ....................................................................................................330  
(a) Aspects directly related to market access ...............................................................................330  
(i) Bilateral developments......................................................................................................... ...330  
(ii) Discussions at ICAO............................................................................................................ ...333  
(iii) Regional developments .......................................................................................................... .339 
(a) Andean Pact.................................................................................................................... ........... 339  
(b) ASEAN Memorandum of Understandi ng on Air Freight  Services ........................................... 339  
(c) OECD........................................................................................................................... ............. 339  
(iv) National developments.......................................................................................................... ..341  
(v) Recent studies ................................................................................................................. ........353  
(b) Security-related regulatory aspects .........................................................................................353  
(c) Other regulatory aspects ....................................................................................................... ..354  
Annex II ....................................................................................................................... .......................355  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page vi  
 
  F.
 SLOTS ............................................................................................................................... .......373  
1. Regulatory developments .....................................................................................................373  
(a) Discussions at ICAO............................................................................................................ ...374  
(b) European Union ................................................................................................................. .....378  
(c) United States .................................................................................................................. .........382  
(i) La Guardia..................................................................................................................... .........382  
(ii) Chicago O'Hare................................................................................................................. .....384  
(iii) New York JFK and Washington National...............................................................................384  
(d) Other countries................................................................................................................ ........384  
(e) IATA regime.................................................................................................................... .......385  
2. Commercial developments ...................................................................................................386  
(a) United States .................................................................................................................. .........386  
(b) European Union ................................................................................................................. .....387  
G. ALLIANCES AND COOPERATION AMONGST AIRLINES .............................................................391  
1. Global alliances ............................................................................................................... ......391  
(a) Economic developments .........................................................................................................3 91 
(i) Restructuring and membership of global alliances ................................................................391  
(ii) Second tier membership......................................................................................................... .395 
(iii) Alliance initiatives ........................................................................................................... .......395  
(iv) Management structure ........................................................................................................... .397 
(b) Regulatory issues .............................................................................................................. ......397  
2. Code-sharing agreements.....................................................................................................398  
(a) Regulatory aspects ............................................................................................................. .....398  
(b) Commercial aspects ............................................................................................................. ...401  
H. OWNERSHIP .............................................................................................................................40 5 
1. Regulatory aspects ............................................................................................................. ...405  
(a) The different concepts associated with the term "ownership" and their interaction...............405  
(i) Designation and national investment/establishment regime ..................................................405  
(ii) Designation and withholding..................................................................................................40 6 
(a) From the point of view of an individual  party........................................................................... 407  
(b) From the point of view of two ASA partners ............................................................................ 407  
(iii) National investment /establishment regime and withholding .................................................409  
(b) Documentary limitations........................................................................................................ .410 
(c) Regulatory developments........................................................................................................ 410 
(i) Regulatory developments with regard to withholding and designation..................................410  
(a) Multilateral de velopments...................................................................................................... ... 410  
(b) Regional de velopments .......................................................................................................... ... 413  
(c) Bilateral de velopments ......................................................................................................... ..... 413   S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page vii  
 
 
  (ii) Regulatory developments with regard to nat ional investment/establishment regimes ...........419  
(iii) Regulatory aspects with regard to privatisation.....................................................................421  
2. Commercial and economic developments...........................................................................421  
(a) Main developments in the owne rship structure of airlines .....................................................421  
(b) Trans-national owners hip developments ................................................................................444  
(i) Introduction ................................................................................................................... .........444  
(ii) Regional analysis.............................................................................................................. ......446  
(a) Intra-Europe ................................................................................................................... ........... 446  
(b) Europe-North America ........................................................................................................... ... 447  
(c) Europe-Asia/ Pacific............................................................................................................ ....... 447  
(d) Europe-Africa.................................................................................................................. .......... 447  
(e) Intra-Africa................................................................................................................... ............. 447  
(f) Intra-Asia /Pacifi c............................................................................................................. .......... 447  
(g) Intra-Americas................................................................................................................. .......... 448  
(iii) Other significant trends ....................................................................................................... ...450  
(a) Rationa le...................................................................................................................... .............. 450  
(b) Actors i nvolved ................................................................................................................ ......... 451  
IV.  OTHER SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY 
DEVELOPMENTS...............................................................................................................455  
A. MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENTS ............................................................................................455  
B. BILATERAL DEVELOPMENTS ...................................................................................................455  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page ix  
 
 
  LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, CHARTS AND BOXES 
 
 
I.  PLURILATERAL AIR SERVICES AGREEMENTS 
 
A.  INTRODUCTION 
 Figure 1   Stylised map of plur ilateral Air Servi ces Agreements ......................................................12 
Box 1    Plurilateral ASAs not incl uded in the latest ICAO lists ....................................................13 
Box 2    The consequences of the ECJ "open skies" rulings on EC Member States' existing      bilateral ASA.............................................................................................................. .......15 
 B.  LEGAL AND TRAFFIC PROFILES OF PLURILATERAL AIR SERVICES AGREEMENTS  
C.  MAIN CONCLUSIONS 
 Table 1    Traffic carried under plur ilateral Air Services Agreements, 2005 ..................................209 
Table 2     Bilateral relations within plur ilateral agreements with a direct service ..........................210 
Figure 2    ICAO-recorded and non-reco rded bilateral agreements with and  
   without di rect ser vice ...................................................................................................... 211 
Figure 3    International scheduled traffic as c overed by bilateral and pl urilateral agreements........212 
Table 3    Weighted Air Liberalisation Index of selected groups of plurilateral  
   and bilateral agreemen ts, ranked by traffic .....................................................................213 
Table 4   Plurilateral agre ements ranked by ALI............................................................................213 
Table 5   Plurilateral and bilateral Air Services Agreements by type ............................................214 
 
II.  ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL SITUATION OF SCHEDULED PASSENGER AIRLINES 
 
Table 6   World total international and domestic revenue tr affic, 2000-2005................................222 
Table 7   World internationa l revenue traffic, 2000-2005..............................................................222 
Table 8   Regional distribution of scheduled traffic, 2000-2005....................................................223 
Table 9   Airlines' direct and total employment by region, 2004 ...................................................224 Table 10  Top 200 passenger airlines ' operations, by region, 2005.................................................225 
Table 11   Top 200 passenger airlines' operations, ranked by traffic, 2005 .....................................226 
Table 12   Operating and net results, 2000-2005..............................................................................22 8 
Chart 1   Net results, 2000-2007 ............................................................................................... .....228 
 
III.  ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS IN SPECIFIC AREAS 
 
A.  LOW-COST CARRIER SERVICES  
Figure 4  Economic advantages of the low-cost model ..................................................................238 
Chart 2   Low-cost carrier cost advantages ....................................................................................2 39 
Table 13  Top 40 low-cost carriers by passenger numbers, 2006 ...................................................242 Table 14  Financial results for selected low-cost carriers, 2006......................................................243 Chart 3   Share of the low-cost airline sector in the US domestic market, 1990-2004 ..................244 
Table 15  Share of the top 5 legacy and low-cost carriers in the US domestic market, 
   May 2005.................................................................................................................... .....244 
Table 16  Share of low-cost carriers in the Mexican domestic market, 2005 and 2007..................247 
Table 17  Selected low-cost carriers in Asia ................................................................................... 249 
Table 18  Selected low-co st carriers in  Oceania..............................................................................25 7 
Table 19  Share of the top 5 legacy and low-cost carriers in the Western  
   European market, May 2005 ...........................................................................................259 
Chart 4   Share of new demand in European LCCs' traffic and breakdown of new demand .........259 
Table 20  Low-cost carriers' market penetration .............................................................................262  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page x  
 
   
B.  NON-SCHEDULED PASSENGER AIR TRANSPORT SERVICES  Table 21  Estimated international non-sche duled revenue passenger traffic, 2000-2005 ...............267 
Table 22  Airlines ranked by charte r passenger numbers, 2001 and 2005 ......................................269 
 
C.  REGIONAL AIR TRANSPORT SERVICES  Table 23  Top 50 regional airlines by passenger numbers, 2000 and 2005.....................................278 
Table 24  Traffic, seat capacity, load factor and fleet of the top 100 regional airlines, 
   2000-2005................................................................................................................... .....279 
Table 25  Top 100 regional airlines by geographical region,  2000 and 2005 .................................279 
Table 26  Top ten airlines' share of total regi onal emplanements in the United States, 2000.........281 
Table 27  Passenger traffic of the top ten Nort h American regional airlines, 2000 and 2005.........282 
Table 28  Passenger traffic of the top ten European regional airlines, 2000 and 2005 ...................283 
Table 29  Passenger traffic of the top five La tin American regional airlines, 2000 and 2005 ........284 
Table 30  Passenger traffic of the top five regional airlines in Africa and the    Middle East, 2000 and 2005............................................................................................285 Table 31    Passenger traffic of the top ten As ia-Pacific regional airlines, 2000 and 2005...............286 
 D.  GENERAL AVIATION SERVICES 
 
Table 32  Number of pilots employed, aircraft used and flight hours     logged in the general aviation sector, 2003-2005............................................................291 
Chart 5   Number and value of new business jets produced by the    leading manufacturers, 2002-2007 ..................................................................................293 
Table 33   Business aviation fleets (jets and turboprops), 2005 .......................................................294 
Chart 6   Percentage of sales outside North America by the main business    aircraft manufacturers, 2003-2006 ..................................................................................296 Chart 7   Forecast helicopter deliveri es by type of aircraft, 2004-2009 .........................................297 
Chart 8   Forecast helicopter deliveri es by type of aircraft, 2004-2009 .........................................298 
Chart 9   Forecast helicopter deliveries by customer segment, 2004-2009....................................298 
Table 34   Restrictions on general aviation im posed by the world's main airports, 2005 ................299 
 E.  AIR CARGO SERVICES  Table 35   Annual growth of air freight in freight tonne kilometres, 2001-2006 .............................309 
Chart 10   Freight revenues and traffic growth in tonne kilometres, 1999-2007 .............................309 
Chart 11   Airline freight yields, 1998-2005 ................................................................................... .310 
Chart 12   Regional breakdown of cargo traffic in 2000..................................................................311 
Chart 13   Regional breakdown of cargo traffic in 2004..................................................................311 
Chart 14   Regional breakdown of cargo revenues in 2000 .............................................................312 
Chart 15   Regional breakdown of cargo revenues in 2004 .............................................................312 
Table 36   Regional breakdown of cargo tr affic and revenues, 2000 and 2004 ...............................313 
Chart 16   Tonnage growth by rout e and relative route size, 2006 ..................................................314 
Chart 17   Boeing and Airbus passenger a nd freight traffic forecasts to 2025.................................315 
Chart 18   Forecasted new international freight traffic, 2005-1010 .................................................316 Table 37    Top 50 cargo airlines by tonne-kilometres, 2000 and 2005 ............................................318 
Table 38   Top five air freight carriers including alliances, 2000.....................................................322 
Table 39   Leading air freight customers, 2004................................................................................3 25 
Table 40   Top 50 cargo airports by traffic volume, 2000-2005.......................................................327 Table 41   Air Services Agreements containing "all-cargo" provisions...........................................332 Table 42   Air Services Agreements containing beyond-fourth-freedom traffic rights....................332 
Box 3    Annex on air cargo services proposed by ICAO .............................................................335 
Box 4    Functioning of a plurilateral ag reement under the GATS, as seen by the OECD ...........339  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page xi  
 
 
  Table 43  Global Express Association's inventor y of restrictions that have an impact 
  on the air services of e xpress delivery operators.............................................................342 
 F.  SLOTS  
Table 44  Summary of main properties of ma rket mechanisms for slot allocation.........................380 
Table 45 Slot reallocati on at Haneda airport..................................................................................3 85 
Table 46 Fully coordinated air ports by region, 2000-2006 ............................................................386 
Table 47 Types of coordinators, 2000-2006...................................................................................386  
 
G.  ALLIANCES AND COOPERATION AMONGST AIRLINES 
 Table 48 Service data on the th ree global alliances, mid-2007 ......................................................393 
Chart 19 Distribution of world passengers by alliance, 2006 ........................................................393 Chart 20 Distribution of world revenue passenger-kilometres by alliance, 2006 ..........................394 
Chart 21 Distribution of world revenue passenger-kilometres by alliance 
  post confirmed changes to membership ..........................................................................394 Table 49 Benefits and risks of code-sha ring for marketing and operating carriers........................399 
Table 50 Agreements required to exer cise fifth freedom traffic rights ..........................................400 
Table 51 Agreements required to exer cise seventh freedom traffic rights.....................................400 
 
H.  OWNERSHIP 
 Figure 5 The investment/designation side of the "ownership triangle" .........................................406 Figure 6 The designation/withholding side of the "ownership triangle" .......................................406 Table 52 Combinations of designation and w ithholding policies in the framework of a 
  bilateral agreement .......................................................................................................... 408 
Figure 7 The investment/withholding side of the "ownership triangle" ........................................409 Table 53 Summary of responses to the ICAO's 2003 questionnaire on withholding   and designation policies ..................................................................................................414  
Table 54 National investment/establishment regimes changed of clarified since 2000.................420 
Table 55 Airlines more than 80 per cent government-owned, September 2006 ............................421 
Table 56 Developments in the ownership structure of the world's main 
  scheduled passenger airlines, 2002-2006 ........................................................................422 Table 57 International cross-airline inv estments and disinvestments, 2001 and 2006...................445 
Table 58 Trans-national ow nership, April 2004.............................................................................449 
Table 59 Foreign direct investments by and in airlines, by region, 2004.......................................449 
 
IV. OTHER SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS  
 
Table 60 Forecast annual percentage change for the traffic from  
 Western/Central Europe to North-East Asia, 2005-2009 ................................................456 Table 61 Estimates of overflight  fees paid by EC carriers .............................................................456 
Table 62 Capacity deployed on routes overflying Russia ..............................................................458 
    
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page xiii  
 
 
  LIST OF ACRONYMS 
 
A 
ACAC Arab Civil Aviation Commission 
ACI Airports Council International 
ACMI Aircraft Crew Maintenance and Insurance 
ACS Association of Caribbean States 
AEA Association of European Airlines 
ALI Air Liberalisation Index 
ANSConf2000 (ICAO's) Conference on the Economics of Airports and Air Navigation Services 
ANZ Air New Zealand 
AOC Air Operator Certificate 
APEC Asia-Pacific Ec onomic Cooperation forum 
ASA Air Services Agreement 
ASEAN Association of South-East Asian Nations 
ASK Available Seat-Kilometre 
ATA (US) Air Transport Association 
ATAG Air Transport Action Group 
ATConf/5 (ICAO's) Fifth Worldwide Air Transport Conference 
ATSB (US) Air Transportation Stabilization Board 
ATSSSA (US) Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act  
B 
BIMP-EAGA Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area 
BST Brunei, Singapore, Thailand (Agreement) 
C 
CAAC Civil Aviation Administration of China 
CAAS Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore 
CARICOM-MASA Caribbean Community Multilateral Air Services Agreement 
CASS (IATA) Cargo Account Settlement System 
CEMAC Communauté Economique et Monétaire d'Afrique 
CLMV Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Vietnam (Agreement) 
COI Community of Interest 
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 
CRS Computer Reservation Systems 
D 
DAGMAR (ICAO) Database of Aeronautical Agreements and Arrangements 
DES+ Designation-plus (weighting system) 
DGAC (Indonesian) Directorate General of Air Communications 
DOT (US) Department of Transport 
E 
EASA European Aviation Safety Agency 
ECA European Cockpit Association 
ECAA European Common Aviation Area 
ECAC European Civil Aviation Conference 
ECJ European Court of Justice 
EEA European Economic Area 
ELFAA European Low-Fare Airlines Association 
ERA European Regions Airline Association 
F 
FAA (US) Federal Aviation Administration 
FTA Free Trade Agreement 
FTK Flight Tonne Kilometres S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page xiv  
 
   
G 
GEA Gobal Express Association 
GSA General Sales Agent 
H 
HDR High Density Rule 
I 
IACA International Air Carrier Association 
IAOPA International Council of Aircra ft Owner and Pilot Associations 
IASTA International Air Services Transit Agreement 
IATA International Air Transport Association 
IATA44 International Air Transport Agreement (1944) 
IBAC International Business Aviation Council 
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization 
ICC International Chamber of Commerce 
IFALPA International Federation of  Airline Pilots’ Associations 
IMT-GT Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle 
ITF International Transport Workers’ Federation 
J 
JAA (EC) Joint Aviation Authorities 
L 
LCC Low-Cost Carrier 
M 
MALIAT Multilateral Agreement on the Liberali zation of International Air Transportation 
MAS Malaysian Airline System 
N 
NAFTA North-American Free Trade Agreement 
O 
OAG Official Airline Guide 
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 
OWN+ Ownership-plus (weighting system) 
P 
Pax Passengers 
PIASA Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement 
PPOB Principal Place of Business 
PPOB&EC Principle Place of Business and Effective Control 
PPOB&ERC Principle Place of Business and Effective Regulatory Control 
Q 
QUASAR Quantitative Air Services Agreements Review 
R 
RFID Radio Frequency Identification 
RPK Revenue Passenger-Kilometre 
S 
SAM Single Aviation Market (of the EC) 
SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 
SOEC Substantial Ownership and Effective Control 
STD Standard (weighting system) 
T 
TASA Template Air Services Agreement 
TCCS Third Country Code-Sharing 
TIACA The International Air Cargo Association 
U 
UAE United Arab Emirates  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page xv  
 
 
  UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 
UNMIK United Nations Mission in Kosovo 
V 
VLJ Very Light Jet 
W 
WAEMU West African Economic and Monetary Union 
WASA World Air Services Agreement (database) 
- 
5th+ Fifth freedom-plus (weighting system) 
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 1  
 
 
   
 
 
    
 
    
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 2  
 
   
1. The present document is the third part of the documentation prepared by the Secretariat for 
the second review of the Air Transport Annex.  It covers:  (I) plurilateral Air Services Agreements;  
(II) the economic and financial situation of sch eduled passenger airlines;  (III) economic and 
regulatory developments in specific areas, namely  low-cost carrier services, non-scheduled passenger 
air transport services, regional air transport services, general aviation services, cargo services, slots, 
alliances and cooperation amongst airlines, owners hip; and (IV) other significant economic and 
regulatory developments. 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 3  
 
 
   
    
 
   
SECTION I 
 
PLURILATERAL 
AIR SERVICES AGREEMENTS 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 5  
 
 
  I. PLURILATERAL AIR SERVICES AGREEMENTS 
2. To the knowledge of the Secretar iat, no detailed study of plurila teral Air Services Agreements 
(ASAs) and the traffic they cover has ever been unde rtaken thus far.  Potentially relevant documents 
offer no real systematic or analytical insights.  The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) 
Database on Liberalization Experiences2 is only a collection of papers of various origin and without a 
truly harmonized structure.  Similarly, the documentation issued for ICAO's Global Symposium on 
Air Transport Liberalization, held in Dubai in September 2006, does not include any structured or 
quantified studies.3  
3. The analysis that follows is an attempt to brid ge that gap.  It applies to plurilateral ASAs, 
mutatis mutandis , the Quantitative Air Services Agreem ents Review (QUASAR) methodology 
developed by the Secretariat to assess the degree of liberalization of bilateral ASAs.4 
4. The analysis is structured along lines identical to  those of the bilateral part of QUASAR.  It is 
hence composed of three parts:  
A. an explanation of the methodological limitations proper to the examination of 
plurilateral agreements, and the modifica tions to bilateral QUASAR template 
that these have required; 
 B. a description of the format devised by  the Secretariat to analyse plurilateral 
agreements, followed by a series of "profiles", i.e. a series of predetermined, identically structured tables outlining the main provisions, the degree of liberalisation and the traffic covered by each agreement, at least de jure
5;  
 
C. main conclusions, complemen ting those contained in document 
S/C/W/270/Add.1 (paragraphs 36 to 41, pa ges I.18 to I.21, and paragraphs 49 
to 54, pages I.29 to I.31).  
 
                                                      
2 See www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_atb. pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm 
3 See www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/dubai2006/index.htm 
4 See document S/C/W/270/Add.1, and in particular pages I.8 to I.21.  It is noteworthy that the name of 
the Quantitative Air Services Agreements Review does not contain the term "bilateral". 
5 With regard to the degree of effective implementa tion of plurilateral agreements, see the main text 
below.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 7  
 
 
   
 
   
 
  
 
PART A 
 
INTRODUCTION 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 9  
 
 
  A. INTRODUCTION  
5. The transposition of the QUASAR methodology to the analysis of plurilateral ASAs suffers 
from a series of methodological limitations, which are linked to:  (1) documentary problems;  (2) lack 
of information on signature, ratification and entry in to force;  (3) lack of information on effective 
degree of implementation;  (4) imperfect application of the QU ASAR methodology;  and (5) the 
coding of the provisions of the agreements.  
1. Documentary problems  
6. The first methodological limitation is of a documen tary nature.  There exists no single source 
for the texts of plurilateral ASAs and none of th ese agreements is recorded in the ICAO World Air 
Services Agreement (WASA) database.  The WASA contains codified summaries of all bilateral 
ASAs registered with ICAO, and, since 2005, of  some bilaterals identified by ICAO and added 
proprio motu  to the database.  This situation may, howev er, be transitory since, for instance, ICAO 
has just received the notification of the Multilatera l Agreement on the Liberalization of International 
Air Transportation (MALIAT), and since the 1997 Fortaleza Agreement foresees, in its Article 19, registration with ICAO.  
7. In order to be consistent with the approach followed for bilateral agreements, where the ICAO 
selection has been used as a basis, the WTO Secretariat has decided to use a list of plurilateral ASAs 
recently drawn up by ICAO for its 2006 Global Symposium on Air Transport Liberalization.
6  This 
list is made up of two sub-lists.7 
8. The first ICAO sub-list consists of 14 ag reements, grouped without a precise common 
criterion.  They are8:   
- Single Aviation Market of the EC9 (EC-SAM; 1987); 
- Decision on the Integration of Air Transpor t within the Andean Pact (Andean Pact; 
1991); 
- Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle Region (IMT-GT; 1995); - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA; 
1995); 
- Caribbean Community Multilateral Air Se rvices Agreement (CARICOM-MASA; 1996); 
- Fortaleza Agreement (1996); - Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Vietnam Agreement (CLMV; 1998, followed by a formal 
multilateral agreement in 2003); 
- Intra-Arab Freedom of the Air Programme  of the Arab Civil Aviation Commission 
(ACAC; 1999)
10; 
                                                      
6 See "Regulatory and Industry Over view", Information Paper presented by the ICAO Secretariat, dated 
15 August 2006, paragraphs 2.3 to 2.1 (www.icao.int/cg i/goto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/dubai2006/index.html). 
7 For a listing of the members of each plurilateral, see document S/C/W/270/Add.1, Table A4, 
pages I.20-21.  However, the membership of COMESA in Table A4 is incorrect;  COMESA members are:  
Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of th e Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, 
Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritiu s, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 
8 The acronym used for each agreements and its date of conclusion are indicated in parenthesis. 
9 Throughout this document, the terms European Union (EU) and European Community (EC) will be 
employed interchangeably.  The former term is generally  used with regard to aviation matters, the latter with 
regard to trade matters.  Moreover, the reference to th e EU is always to the 25 Member States (Romania and 
Bulgaria only acceded to th e EU on 1 January 2007). S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 10  
 
  - Agreement on Air Transport of the Comm unauté Economique et Monétaire d'Afrique 
Centrale (CEMAC; 1999); 
- Air Transport Liberalization Programme of the Common Market for Eastern and 
Southern Africa (COMESA; 1999); 
- Yamoussoukro II Ministerial Decision (1999); 
- Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalizati on of International Air Transportation 
(MALIAT; 2001); 
- Banjul Accord Group Agreement (2004); - Brunei, Singapore, Thailand Agreement (BST; 2004). 
9. Two of the above-mentioned agreem ents have not been retained by the WTO Secretariat in its 
analysis.  First, the EC-SAM, since it has been considered as covering dom estic traffic.  (The 
agreement has been described at length in th e documentation produced for the first review, see 
compilation, pages 178-179 and 207).  Second, the BST, since it only covers cargo services. 
10. Plurilateral ASAs that were signed since the issu ance of the ICAO lists have been added to 
this first ICAO sub-list.  They are:  
- European Common Aviation Area (ECAA; June 2006); 
- Euro-Mediterranean Air Transport Ag reement (Euro-Med; December 2006); 
- First-Phase US-EU Air Transport Agreement (US-EU; 30 April 2007). 
11. The agreements of this ICAO first sub-list were , however, not all immediately available from 
ICAO or through simple internet searches.  The WTO Secretariat, therefore, sought the assistance of a 
number of aviation correspondents to find the texts of these agreements.
11  This explains why certain 
agreements are not available on the internet, but on ly from the WTO Secretariat.  Moreover, many are 
available in only one of the WTO official languages.   
The Secretariat stands ready to issue, in one sing le document, the texts of all the plurilateral 
agreements in all three WTO official languages, so  as to increase transparency and availability of 
documentation.  
12. The second sub-list drawn up by ICAO consis t of "arrangements in the signature or 
ratification process" and comprises: 
- Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement (PIASA; 2003); 
- Common Air Transport Programme of the West African Economic and Monetary Union 
(WAEMU; 2002); 
- Association of South-East Asian Nations (A SEAN) Sectoral Integration Protocol for Air 
Travel (ASEAN Roadmap; 2005); 
- Air Transport Agreement for a Common Avia tion Area of the Association of Caribbean 
States (ACS; 2004). 
The Secretariat stands ready to produce addenda based on any additional information Members may 
wish to provide about p1urilateral ASAs.  
                                                                                                                                                                     
10 It should be noted that, for the present study, the Secretariat has taken into consideration a more 
recent agreement concluded under the aegis of ACAC, i.e. the "Agreeme nt on the Liberalization of Air 
Transport between the Arab  States", signed in Damascus in December 2004. 
11 In one case, that of the ACAC ag reement, the text had to be transl ated by the WTO Secretariat from 
its original language, Arabic.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 11  
 
 
  13. The borderline between the two sub-lists is not very clear, as the definition of the second list 
could imply that all agreements of the first group have  been ratified, which is apparently not the case.   
14. One may note, moreover, that the two sub-lists  encompass agreements concluded years before 
the period under review (2000-2005).  The WTO Secret ariat has nevertheless chosen to include these 
agreements in its analysis, since their date of entr y into force is not always clear and since they had 
been described in the documenta tion produced for the first review only in an "impressionistic" manner 
(see compilation, pages 170-180; Table 3, page 193;  Ta ble 5, page 195;  Table 6, page 196;  Table 9, 
page 211), i.e. without a detailed assessment of thei r provisions and without any relevant statistical 
information.   
15. Figure 1 illustrates, in a stylised fashion, the complex web of plurilateral ASAs. 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 12 Figure 1 
Stylised map of plurilatera l Air Services Agreements 
 
     
 
    
 
    
 
     
 
    
 
     
 
 
Source : WTO Secretariat (2006)  Albania,  
Bosnia & Herz., Bulgaria, Croatia, 
FYROM, Iceland, 
Norway, Romania, Serbia &  Montenegro, 
UNMIK 
Montserrat 
Antigua & Barbuda,  
Bahamas, Barbados,  
Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, 
Jamaica, St Kitts & 
Nevis,  St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname,   
Trinidad & Tobago Costa Rica*,  Cuba, 
Dominican Rep.,  
El Salvador*, Guatemala,  
Haiti, Honduras*, Mexico,   Nicaragua, 
Panama,   
Colombia, 
Venezuela, 
Bol. Rep. 
Ecuador Bolivia* 
Peru Argentina 
Brazil 
Paraguay* 
Uruguay CARICOM-
MASA 
FORTALEZA USA EU 
(Greece*, 
Netherlands*) 
US-EU 
New Zealand 
Cook Isl.,  
Samoa, 
Tonga Fiji,  Kiribati, Marshall Isl., 
Micronesia, Nauru,  Niue,  
Palau,  Papua New Guinea,  Solomon Isl.,  Tuvalu, 
Vanuatu Thailand Singapore Brunei D. Indonesia, 
Malaysia IMT-GT 
Philippines  BIMP-
EAGA Cambodia,  Lao PDR,  
Myanmar,  Viet Nam 
CLMV 
Chile PIASA 
ANDEAN PACT ACS 
Benin 
Burkina Faso 
Côte d'Ivoire 
Mali Niger Senegal 
Togo 
Cape Verde 
Gambia 
Ghana 
Nigeria 
Sierra Leone Algeria, Libya, 
Mauritania, 
Somalia, Tunisia Morocco 
Comoros, 
Egypt, 
Djibouti, 
Sudan 
Angola, Burundi*, 
Congo DR, Eritrea, 
Ethiopia*, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, 
Swaziland, 
Tanzania, Uganda, 
Zambia, Zimbabwe Cameroon 
Central Afr. Rep.  
Chad 
Congo  Equatorial Guinea 
Gabon Yamoussoukro II 
WAEMU  
CEMAC  
COMESA Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, 
Kuwait, Lebanon, 
Oman, Qatar, Saudi 
Arabia, Syria, UAE, 
Yemen ACAC ECAA 
BANJUL  Aruba* Turkey* 
*IATA44:  Aruba, Bolivia, Burundi,  Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethi opia, Greece, Honduras, Liberia, Netherlands, Para guay, Turkey Botswana 
Guinea 
Lesotho 
Liberia* 
Mozambique Namibia 
Sao Tome & P. 
South Africa  Switzerland EU-CH 
ASEAN 
Roadmap 
Guinea 
Bissau Euro-Med 
MALIAT  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 13 
 
 
  16. The ICAO lists could be considered inco mplete.  In its "Manual of Regulation"12, ICAO 
refers to a series of older multilateral agreements that  are not included in its most recent lists.  These 
agreements appear in Box 1.  A possible explana tion of the removal of these agreements from ICAO's 
most recent lists is that they touch essentially upon n on-scheduled services, which, in most instances, 
are not covered by ASAs but by national regulations13, and upon tariffs, which are only one aspect of 
ASAs and which recent devel opments in competition law14 have rendered obsolete.  The only case 
where Box 1 touches upon a plurilateral ASA simila r to those contained in the recent ICAO lists is 
Yamoussoukro I, which has since been replaced by Yamoussoukro II.   
Box 1 
Plurilateral ASAs not included in the latest ICAO lists 
 
• The Multilateral Agreement on Commercial Rights of Non-Scheduled Air Services in Europe, 
concluded by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) member States, signed in Paris on 30 
April 1956.  This Agreement states  that aircraft engaged in non-sch eduled commercial  flights within 
Europe, which do not harm scheduled services, may be freely admitted. 
• The ECAC International Agreement on the Procedure for the Establishment of Tariffs for Scheduled 
Air Services, signed in Paris on 10 July 1967, which provided ECAC member States with uniform 
principles and procedures regarding tariff establishment. 
• The Multilateral Agreement on Commercial Rights of Non-Scheduled Ai r Services among the 
Association of South-East Asian Nations, signed in Manila on 13 March 1971, which liberalized non-
scheduled air services within the sub-region. 
• The International Agreement on the Procedure for the Establishment of Tariffs for Intra-European 
Scheduled Air Services by ECAC member States, signed in Paris on 16 June 1987, which provided 
uniform principles and procedures for the establishment of tariffs and introduced the zone system of 
tariff regulation. 
• The Yamoussoukro I Declaration on a New African Ai r Transport Policy, signed by the Ministers for 
civil aviation of African States in October 1988 and revised in September 1994, which established a 
programme for the integration of African airlines a nd guidelines for coopera tion in the air transport 
field among States in Africa. 
 
Source : ICAO Manual of Regulation, Second edition, 2004. 
 
17. The November 2006 issue of Airline Business c ontains a list of plurilateral ASAs which 
includes two further agreements:  the GATS, and the 1944 International Air Transport Agreement 
(IATA44;  1944) .  The latter agreement entered into fo rce on 8 February 1945 and has been accepted 
as binding by 19 parties, eight of which subsequently withdrew.15  The remaining parties are Aruba16, 
Bolivia, Burundi, Costa Rica,  El Salvador, Ethiopia, Greece, Honduras, Liberia, Netherlands, Paraguay, and Turkey.  The IATA44 is still in  force among those parties, unless it has been 
superseded by a bilateral treaty either explicitly or  through the provisions on succession of treaties of 
the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.  
18. A more detailed examination shows that the, out  of the 66 bilateral agreements theoretically 
possible among those 12 parties, ICAO has recorded onl y eight, five of which were without a direct 
service in 2006 (i.e. Bolivia-Costa Rica, Costa Ri ca-Paraguay, Honduras-Ne therlands, Netherlands-
Paraguay, Ethiopia-Greece).
17   
                                                      
12 ICAO Document 5226, second edition, 2004. 
13 See compilation, paragraph 11, page 266. 
14 Such as the on-going withdrawal of group exempti ons for the International Air Transport Association 
(IATA) interlining and tariffs conferences. 
15 The United States in 1947, Nicaragua in 1947, the Dominican Republic in 1947, Afghanistan in 
1949, China in 1951, Thailand in 1955, Venezuela in 1955, and Sweden in 1983.  
16 Aruba is considered by ICAO as distinct from the Netherlands. 
17 Direct services existed only between:  Costa Ri ca and the Netherlands;  Bolivia and Paraguay;  
Greece and Turkey.   S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 14  
 
  19. The IATA44, therefore, theoretically applies to the remaining 58 (i.e. 66 minus 8) traffic 
relations.
18  However, only eight direct services exist for these 58 traffic relations, namely:  Costa 
Rica-El Salvador, Burundi-Ethiopia, Costa Rica-Honduras, El Salvador-Honduras, Ethiopia-Netherlands, Netherlands-Aruba, Ethiopia-Turkey, Ne therlands-Turkey.  It would be interesting to 
know if the provisions of the IATA44 (full granting of third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh freedom 
traffic rights) are effectively a pplied to those traffic relations. 
20. Since neither effective implementation nor original  date of entry into force of the plurilateral 
agreements have been retained as criteria to dete rmine the scope of the analysis, the Secretariat has 
decided to extend it to the IATA44.  The agreement is not only legally in force and duly registered 
with ICAO
19, but also touches upon market access issues.  Furthermore, it constitutes the first of the 
two attempts by ICAO to define a truly multilateral framework for air transport services, as originally 
intended by the Chicago Convention (i.e. the "missi ng chapters") and may have therefore more than 
just an historical and legal relevance.20 
21. In order to be exhaustive, one might also have wished to include the draft Multilateral 
Agreement on Commercial Rights in Inte rnational Civil Air Transport of 194721, which was the 
second and last attempt by ICAO at a multilateral aviation framework22.  However, differently from 
the IATA44, this multilateral agreement has remain ed a draft and never reached the signature and 
ratification stages.   
22. One could also question the use of the term "p lurilateral" applied to the US-EU, Euro-Med 
and ECAA agreements, since the European Commissi on negotiated them on behalf of the EC Member 
States on the basis of an explicit mandate.  Neverthe less, since EU Member States are also signatories 
to these agreements individually and since the la tter have been listed as regional/plurilateral 
agreements by ICAO, the WTO Secretariat has decide d to follow ICAO practice and consider them as 
plurilateral ASAs.   
23. By the same token, the WTO Secretariat has chosen to include in its analysis of plurilaterals 
the Air Transport Agreement between the EU and Switzerland (EU-CH; 1999)23, since two other 
agreements involving the EU and its Members States  on the one hand, and a third party on the other 
(i.e. US-EU and Euro-Med) had been included in the ICAO lists.  
24. Indeed, in establishing its lists, ICAO seems to have largely followed the EC approach to 
presenting its external air transport policy.  Following the EC Commission's Communication on "Developing the Agenda for the Community's External Aviation Policy"
24, the June 2005 conclusions 
of the EC Council of Transport Ministers set the road map to develop the external aviation relations of 
the EC.  According to these texts, EC po licy is based on three pillars, aimed at: 
1. ensuring legal certainty of existing bi lateral ASAs, notably through new designation 
clauses;  
2 developing the wider European Common Aviation Area by 2010;  and 3. establishing a web of new comprehensive ASAs, laying out the twin aims of, on the one 
hand, market opening and creating new econom ic and investment opportunities and, on the 
other, a process of regulatory convergence to  ensure a level playing field with fair 
competition conditions. 
                                                     
 
18 These figures do not account for any bilateral ASAs which might have been concluded amongst the 
IATA44 parties but not notified to ICAO. 
19 The depositary being the United States. 
20 For a more detailed discussion, see compilation, paragraphs 17-18, page 192. 
21 Available, on request,  from the Secretariat. 
22 For a more detailed discussion, see compilation, paragraphs 19-22, page 192. 
23 The agreement, which was signed on 21 June 1999, entered into force on 3 June 2002. 
24 Document COM(2005)79, dated 11 March 2005.   S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 15 
 
 
  25. The EU-CH, Euro-Med and ECAA agreements obviously fall under the second pillar, as do 
the mandates requested by the Commission for nego tiations with Russia and Ukraine in March and 
November 2005, respectively.25  
26. The US-EU agreement, instead, falls under the th ird pillar, as do the mandates requested by 
the Commission to negotiate with China (March  2005), Australia (September 2005), New Zealand 
(September 2005), Chile (September 2005), India (September 2005) and Canada (January 2007).26  
27. As to the first pillar, this covers the "hor izontal agreements" initialled to date by the 
Commission with 25 countries.27  A "horizontal agreement" is an agreement that the Commission 
negotiates on behalf of EC Member States and that aims to bring all existing bilateral ASAs between 
Member States and third countries in line with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) "open skies" 
judgments of November 2002.28  The ECJ found that, if an ASA between a Member State and a third 
country permitted designation only of airlines "subs tantially owned and effectively controlled" by 
nationals of the signatory Member State, such designation was discriminatory and in breach of EC 
law (see also document S/C/W/270/Add.1, page I.33 , paragraphs 65-66 and An nex B-II on page I.81).  
These agreements will not be analysed in detail at this stage, since they essentially target only one 
clause (i.e. withholding) out of the eleven (third /fourth, fifth and seventh freedom and cabotage; 
capacity; designation; withholding; pricing; exchange  of statistics; and cooperative arrangements) 
assessed with the QUASAR methodology.  Box 2 provi des more details on horizontal agreements. 
Box 2 
The consequences of the ECJ "open skies" rulings 
on EC Member States' existing bilateral ASAs 
 
"At the June 2003 Transport Council, the Commission a nd the Member States agreed on the modalities to solve 
the issues identified by the Court.   
 
Two methods were identified for amending the existing bilateral air services agreements: either bilateral 
negotiations between each Member State concerned and its partners, amending each bilateral ASA separately, or 
the negotiation of single "horizontal" agreements, with the Commission acting on a mandate of the Member 
States of the EU.  Each "horizontal" Agreement aims at amending relevant provisions of all existing bilateral 
ASAs in the context of a single negotiation with one third country.  
                                                      
25 See http://ec.europa.eu/tran sport/air_portal/intern ational/pillars/common_aviation_area/ 
index_en.htm 
26 See http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_por tal/international/pillars/global_partners/ 
australia_newzeeland_chile_en.htm  
27 Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia Herzegov ina, Bulgaria, Chile, Cr oatia, FYROM, Georgia, 
Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Moldova, Morocco, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Uruguay, Viet Nam. 
28 European Court of Justice (2002), Commission v. the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, 
Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, cases C-466/98, C-467/98, C-468/98, C-469/98, C-471/98, C-472/98, C-475/98 and C-476/98. S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 16  
 
   
Between June 2003 and February 2007, the method of separate bilateral negotiations [...] led to changes with 43 
partner States, representing 89 bilateral agreements corr ected.  Under the second option, horizontal negotiations 
have led to changes with 25 partner States, representing an additional 373 bilateral agreements.29 
 
It should be noted that traffic rights - i.e.  the provisions of existing ASAs relating to the number of 
airlines that may be designated and any frequency, ca pacity or other traffic righ ts - remain unaffected by 
the concept of Community designation.  While the number of airlines which an EU Member State may 
consider for eligibility for design ation will increase, the number of airlines which can actually be 
designated, provided that they are established, will re main subject to the provisions and restrictions of 
existing bilateral Agreeme nts.   Unless EU Member States deci de otherwise, future amendments to 
bilateral ASAs concerning air traffic rights will be ne gotiated bilaterally by ea ch EU Member State, and 
not by the European Commission.  Th ere will be no effect on the volume or balance of air traffic rights 
previously agreed between a partner State and an individual EU Member St ate, and existing bilateral Air 
Services Agreements remain in force a fter amendment.  The aim of ame nding the bilateral ASAs is to 
eliminate the element of legal uncertainty and ensure  the continued application of those Agreements.  
[emphasis added]  
 
The objective to bring existing bilateral agreements into line with Community law, attributable to “open skies” 
case law, is vitally important not only for the EC an d its Member States but also for the third countries 
concerned and for the aviation sector, airlines and the users.  It is doubly essential in order to:  guarantee the 
same rights to all Community operators, by virtue of the principles of non-discrimination and freedom of 
establishment;  and ensure the legal certainty of aviation relations based on such agreements.  Consequently, this 
objective will need to be accomplished efficiently and within a reasonable time scale.  To this end, 
complementarity must be promoted with respect to the tools available, thereby leading to greater flexibility and 
efficiency.   
 
Bilateral negotiations by a Member State are covered by Regulation (EC)847/2004, which provides for the 
insertion into the agreement under discussion of standard clauses reflecti ng Community competence and 
legislation.  In this way, existing agreements can be br ought into line with Community law in the context of the 
regular ongoing contacts between Memb er States and their partners, th ereby ensuring the continuity and 
development of international air services while at the sa me time paying due regard to the new state of affairs 
prevailing in the sector.  
 
The standard clauses provided for in the Regulation were drawn up jointly by the Commission and the Member 
States. In an effort to ensure flexibility, an examinati on will be conducted, in accordance with the comitology 
procedure, of any cases where it has not been possible to incorporate these clauses in an agreement.  In such 
instances, it may be possible to author ise the conclusion of agreements which do not undermine the objectives 
of the EC’s common transport policy and which do not otherwise contravene Community law.  However, an 
agreement which does not include the Community designation clause (whereby all Community carriers resident 
in the territory of the Member State in question are allowe d to apply for available traffic rights) would contradict 
the objectives of this common policy. Indeed, in breach of  the principle of freedom of establishment laid down 
in Article 43 of the EC Treaty, such an agreement would continue to discriminate between Community 
companies on the grounds of nationality. 
 
A significant number of bilateral agreements between Member States and third countries have already been 
amended.  Nevertheless, there are still a large number of agreements which need to be adapted in order to bring 
them into line with Community law". 
Source :  EC Commission at: 
 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/a ir_portal/international/pillars/h orizontal_agreements_en.htm 
2. Lack of information on signature, ratification and entry into force 
28. The second methodological limitation is linked to  the lack of precise information about 
signature, ratification and date of entry force of vari ous plurilateral ASAs for their respective parties.  
In fact, even if agreements generally indicate the da te when they were signed and set a date for entry 
                                                      
29 The names of the bilateral partners of the EU concerned as well as the number of bilateral 
agreements henceforth corrected are detailed in Annex I to the present section.  This Annex updates Annex B2 
on page I.81 of document S/C/W/270/Add.1.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 17 
 
 
  into force (subject to a certain minimum number of ratifications), it is often unclear if these 
agreements have entered into force given that no systematic information about the status of the 
ratification processes is available from ICAO.  
29. In the WTO Secretariat's analysis, the inform ation about membership, signature, ratification 
and entry into force of the plurilateral agreements  is up to date as at October 2006, unless otherwise 
indicated. 
Members may wish to correct, update or complement the information about signature, ratification 
and entry into force of the various plurilateral ASAs contained in the individual profiles. 
3. Lack of information on the effective degree of implementation 
30. Even when plurilateral agreements have ente red into force, their degree of effective 
implementation varies notably.  The considerable literature produced by the United Nations Economic 
Commission for Africa (UNECA) about the difficu lties resulting from the non-application of the 
Yamoussoukro declaration30 is a case in point.  It is corrobor ated by an assessment by the former 
Deputy Director of the Air Transport Bureau of ICAO, Mr Chris Lyle, who writes:  
"the [agreements] related to the European Un ion are substantive in effect, as are the CLMV, 
MALIAT and the three current intra-ASEAN agreements (BST, IMT-GT and BIMP-EAGA).  However, the others are largely ineffective,  either failing implementation in practice or 
honored in the breach.  One reason for this is  that there is no strong underlying economic 
authority for the regions concerned." 
31   
31. In certain instances, the fate of some agreemen ts, e.g. the Andean Pact, is uncertain due to 
wider political circumstances. 
4. Imperfect application of the QUASAR methodology 
32. A fourth limitation of the analysis relates to  the fact that the QUASAR methodology, which 
had been developed to study bilateral ASAs, is not always easily transposable to plurilateral 
agreements.  For instance, some plurilaterals (e.g . PIASA) distinguish between fifth freedom traffic 
rights within the plurilateral (allowed) and fifth free dom rights outside the plurilateral (not allowed in 
the transitional period), whereas the QUASAR met hodology has only foreseen one binary option (i.e. 
yes/no) with regard to the granting of fifth freedom  rights.  Similarly, for the withholding clause, the 
Fortaleza Agreement refers back to national legi slations or policies and these may differ widely 
between signatories (e.g. "substantia l ownership and effective control" in Brazil, "principal place of 
business" in Chile).  In such cases, clauses pertaini ng to each signatory should ideally be analysed and 
scored separately, and a traffic-weighted average should then be computed.   
33. Another example relates to the "principal place of business" withholding provisions.  
"Principal place of business" is a wider concept in the context of a plurilateral ASA than it is in a 
bilateral one, because this clause allows any operato r (national of a party to the plurilateral or 
otherwise) to settle in any of the parties to the plurilateral, which are more (over 50 in the case of 
Yamoussoukro) than the two involved in a bilateral AS A.  In this regard, additional weight may need 
to be assigned to this withholding clause. 
Time constraints have not allowed the Secretariat to refine the QUASAR methodology for application 
to plurilateral ASAs, but the Secretariat stands re ady to undertake such work if Members so wish.  
                                                      
30 See http://www.uneca.org/itca/Yamoussoukro  
31 Airlines Business, November 2006. S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 18  
 
  5. Difficulties related to the coding of plurilateral ASAs 
34. In the case of plurilateral ASAs, there ex ists no pre-existing coding of the provisions 
comparable to the ICAO WASA coding for bilateral ASAs.  The WTO Secretariat has therefore had to code the provisions of plurilateral agreements its elf in order to subsequently attempt to compute 
their Air Liberalisation Index (ALI) and to identify the corresponding ASA type (for more 
information on the ALI and the ASA types, see document S/C/W/270/Add.1, pages I.12-I.17).  In 
order to allow for possible corrections by the signato ries concerned, the coding has been carried out in 
a transparent manner.  Cases where the Secretar iat has faced difficulties and has had to make 
somewhat arbitrary choices are clearly indicated ( see, below, Table 4 of the profiles for plurilateral 
agreements). 
35. At the same time, however, the availability of th e full text of these agreements, rather than 
only the ICAO coded summaries as in the case of bila teral ASAs, has allowed for a more detailed, 
nuanced and accurate assessment of their degree of li beralization.  For instance, it has been possible to 
identify instances when fifth freedom traffic rights ha ve been granted with and without limitations, to 
distinguish between consecutive a nd stand-alone cabotage, and to analyse, where applicable, areas not 
covered by QUASAR, such as cargo and non-scheduled services.   
36. The profiles of plurilateral ASAs have thus been adapted so as to capture these additional 
elements and nuances.  However, for the sake of consistency with the b ilateral application of 
QUASAR, the computation of tentative ALIs does not include these additional elements.  For instance, even when the granting of fifth freedom traffic rights is subject to limitations, the totality, 
rather than just a share, of the points attribut able to fifth freedom rights has been given. 
37. Similarly, when geographically limited seventh fr eedom rights have been granted (i.e. by the 
United States to EU carriers operating between the te rritory of the United States and ECAA countries 
that are not EU Member States under the US-EU agreement), the totality of the points attributable to seventh freedom rights has been assigned to the agreem ent, even if those seventh freedom rights only 
apply to carriers of one of the two parties (i.e. the EU carriers) and only to a very limited geographical 
area (i.e. between the United States and Norway, Iceland and the Balkan States).  Nevertheless, in 
view of the limited character of that concession, thos e points have been indicated in parenthesis, so as 
to signal it to the reader. 
38. The only exception to this "indivisibility" of  the QUASAR points is the case of asymmetrical 
withholding clauses.  As explained in more detail in  the sections of the present documentation dealing 
with ownership, the withholding clauses contained in  bilateral ASAs are traditionally symmetrical, i.e. 
identical and equally applicable to both parties.  In  most instances, the applicable clause is that of 
"substantial ownership and effective control" (SOEC) , and only in marginal cases that of "principal 
place of business" (PPOB) or of "community of interest" (COI).
32 
39. The 2002 European Court of Justice "open ski es" judgements and the subsequent EC policy 
of renegotiating the withholding clauses in Members States' bilateral ASAs have resulted in hundreds 
of new agreements33 containing asymmetrical withholding clauses, i.e. "community of interest" on the 
EC side and, usually, "substan tial ownership and effective cont rol" on the partner's side.   
40. In such instances, where the QUASAR market access features present multiple variants (in 
the case at hand, the SOEC, COI or PPOB alternatives) , rather than the binary granted/non-granted 
option, the methodology allows in principle for a differe ntiated attribution of points.  As a result, in its 
application to plurilateral agreements the QUASAR  points for the different withholding clauses have 
                                                      
32 The incidence of those three "classical" clauses, both in terms of number of agreements and in terms 
of traffic covered, is analysed in document S/C/W/270/Add.1, Chart 4 on page I.51 and paragraphs 126-129 on pages I.43 to I.44. 
33  For the complete list of these agreements as at July 2007, see Annex I.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 19 
 
 
  been averaged.  For instance in the case of a SO EC-COI combination, the standard ALI weighing 
system results in a total of 2 points (0 points for SOEC plus 4 points for COI, divided by two). 
41. In the case of the agreements involving the EC a nd its Member States, the profiles in general, 
and Table 1 thereof in particular, were partially inad equate to capture the complexity of the provisions 
involved and have thus been complemented with regard to, first, the freedoms and, second, the 
Weighted Air Liberalisation Index (WALI).34 
42. First, as concerns the freedoms of the air, in the case of agreements not involving the EC, 
these are defined by reference to the territory of each party.  In the case of EC and its Member States, 
however, there are really three types of parties i nvolved:  the Member States, with their individual 
territories;  the EC, composed of the addition of the territories of its Members States (save for their 
ultramarine territories) and sometimes referred to as a whole;  and the third party or parties, each with 
their own territory.  
43. As a result, when considering fifth, eighth and ninth freedoms, it is necessary to indicate if 
those freedoms are defined by reference to the te rritory of each individual Member State or the 
territory of the EC as a whole.  An additional diff iculty lies in the fact that, in most instances, 
agreements involving the EC and its Member States do not refer to "freedoms" strictly speaking but to 
rights granted between territories. 
44. These difficulties have been addressed by conf orming to the European Commission practice 
of defining the freedoms by reference to the territories of the individual Member States35 and, so as to 
avoid ambiguity, by reproducing in Table 1 the text of the grant of rights clause, in full or, if too long, in a summarised version. 
45. Second, with regard to the WALIs, since the EC external aviation policy is not fully 
harmonized (for more details on this point, see Box 2) a WALI has not been computed for the EC as a whole (which is why, in Table 1 of the relevant profiles, the WALI of the EC is indicated as not available) but rather for the individual EC Member States. 
46. Furthermore, in certain instances, an additiona l table or box has been included at the end of 
the profile of the agreements involving the EC and its Member States.  This has been rendered 
necessary by the need to describ e the complex and lengthy conditions of regulatory harmonisation 
found in many of these agreements, which constitute  a precondition for the granting of market access. 
                                                     
 
34 For more information on the WALI, see document S/C/W/270/Add.1, pages I.17-I.18. 
35 See, for instance, paragraph 3 of the informati on note on the Euro-Med ag reement, available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/tr ansport/air_portal/internationa l/pillars/common_aviation_area/doc/morocco/morocco_info_
note_en.pdf S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 20  
 
  Annex I 
Bilateral EC ASAs brought into legal confor mity since the European Court of Justice 
"open skies" judgments, as at 5 July 2007 
 
Community designation agreed 
bilaterally with at least one EC 
Member State Community designation agreed under the 
Community Agreement with the EC or through 
formal Record of Consultations 
Third country ASAs amended Agreement initialled/signed ASAs amended Discussions ongoing 
with the EC 
Afghanistan 
Algeria 
Antigua & Barbuda 
Argentina 
Armenia 
Bahrain 
Barbados 
Belarus 
Belize Bolivia 
Brunei 
Cambodia 
Cape Verde 
Costa Rica 
Cuba 
Dem. Rep. of Congo 
Dominican Republic 
Ecuador 
Egypt 
Fiji 
Gambia 
Ghana 
Granada 
Guinea-Bissau 
Indonesia 
Iran 
Jamaica 
Kuwait 
Macau 
Madagascar 
Mauritius 
Mongolia 
Netherlands Antilles 
North Korea 
Peru 
Qatar 
Saint Lucia 
Senegal 
South Korea 
Sri Lanka 
Suriname 
Syria 
Tajikistan 
Tanzania Thailand 
Togo 
Turkmenistan 
Uganda 
Uzbekistan 
Venezuela 
Zambia 1 
6 
1 
5 
1 
5 
1 
1 
1 1 
2 
1 
2 
1 
5 
2 
2 
3 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 
2 
3 
1 
1 
2 
1 
2 
10 
1 
4 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 Albania 
Australia 
Azerbaijan 
Bosnia-Herzegovina Bulgaria
1 
Chile 
Croatia 
FYROM 
Georgia Jordan 
Kyrgyzstan 
Lebanon 
Malaysia 
Maldives 
Moldova 
Morocco 
New Zealand 
Panama 
Paraguay 
Romania
1 
Serbia and Montenegro 
Singapore 
Ukraine 
United Arab Emirates 
United States 
Uruguay 
Vietnam 13 
14 
18 
  9 
22 
10 
25 
14 
14 21 
  5 
19 
21 
  8 
17 
20 
12 
  6 
  6 
21 
20 
23 
27 
23 
21 
  9 
17 Argentina 
Bangladesh 
Canada 
China 
Colombia 
Egypt 
Hong Kong, China 
India 
Israel Jamaica 
Kazakhstan 
Macau, China 
Mexico 
Mongolia 
Nepal 
Nigeria 
Russian Federation 
South Africa 
South Korea 
Turkey 
WAEMU 
Uzbekistan 
 
 
 
Total: 51 98 27 435 29 
TOTAL number of third countries:                                                                                          96 
TOTAL number of bilateral ASAs brou ght into legal conformity:                                       533 
1 Bulgaria and Romania joined the EC on 1 January 2007. 
Source :  European Commission (July 2007).  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 21 
 
 
   
    
 
    
 
    
 
   
PART B 
 
LEGAL AND TRAFFIC PROFILES 
OF PLURILATERAL AIR SERVICES 
AGREEMENTS  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 23 
 
 
  B. LEGAL AND TRAFFIC PROFILES OF PLURILATERAL AIR SERVICES AGREEMENTS  
47. This part contains the individual profiles of the 21 plurilateral agreements retained by the 
Secretariat in its analysis.  The agreements are pr esented in alphabetical order, separately for the two 
ICAO sub-lists (see section A).  All profiles ar e identical (save for the additional information 
contained in the profiles of some of the agreemen ts involving the EC and its Member States) and 
made up of the following elements: 
• The acronym and full name of the plurilateral, plus a box indicating the source of the text of 
the agreement and of other rele vant information, if any. 
 
• A map, illustrating the membership of the agreement.   
 
• Table 1, containing information about:  the me mbers of the agreement and their respective 
WALIs;  the date of signature and, if available, the date of entry into force of the agreement;  
the main market access provisions coded in QUASAR (i.e. third to ninth freedom traffic 
rights;  withholding, designation, capacity an d pricing clauses;  and, under "other QUASAR", 
provisions on cooperative arrangements and exchan ge of statistics), cross-referenced to the 
relevant articles of the plurilateral agreement, so as to allow for verification by the Members 
concerned;  and a tentative Air Liberalizati on Index and ASA type, as computed in Table 4 
(see below). 
 
• Table 2, describing the other salient features  of the plurilateral agreement that are not 
captured by the QUASAR methodology, but are nevertheless of interest.   
 
• Table 3, relating the provisions governing the relationship between the plurilateral agreement 
and other ASAs and third parties. 
 
• Table 4, detailing the QUASAR market access el ements found in the plurilateral and, on this 
basis, computing a tentative Air Liberalization Index and identifying a tentative ASA type.  
The market access features present in the plurilateral are identified by being aligned to the right of the relevant cell in the first colu mn.  The "Observations" column describes the 
difficulties faced by the Secretariat in the codi ng process, if any, and the choices made.  In 
case of transitional periods for phased-in libera lization, only the final ALI and type have 
been, respectively, computed and identified.  The Secretariat stands ready, however, to 
compute transitory ALIs and to identify tr ansitory types if Members so wish.   
 
• Table 5, containing information on the cont ribution of each individual member of the 
plurilateral to the total traffic of the agreemen t (in absolute and percentage terms) and on the 
relative importance of the plurilateral in the tota l international traffic of each member.  All 
traffic calculations in Table 5 and in Tabl e 6 (below) are based on the 2005 country-pair 
traffic data kindly provided to the WTO Secretariat by IATA.
36  H o w e v e r ,  a s  t h e  
computations in both these tables are based on th e assumption that the plurilateral agreement 
concerned is fully applied (which, as discussed in  section A, is not always the case), they 
should be read with caution. 
 
• Table 6, indicating the total traffic covered by  the plurilateral and computing the agreement's 
share of total international traffic. 
 
• Table 7, identifying those bilateral relations with in the plurilateral agreement that are covered 
by a direct service (indicated by a cross in the re levant cell of the table).  A direct service is a 
                                                      
36 For more detail on the traffic data used, see document S/C/W/270/Add.1, paragraphs 89-92, pages 
II.665-II.666  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 24  
 
  service operated between two points by IATA memb er airlines under the same flight number, 
and the source of these data is the summer 2006 IATA mileage set.   
 48. The index of the plurilateral agreements profile d is contained after a mock profile, covering 
Tables 1 to 7, for a hypothetical plurilateral agreement Z.   
 
   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 25PLURILATERAL AGREEMENT Z 
 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
 
Notes: WALI = (Traffic-) Weighted Air Liberalisation Index;  AL I = Air Liberalisation Index;  STD = Standard weighting methodol ogy. 
Source :  WTO Secretariat. Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom  7th freedom 8th freedom 9th freedom 
- - - - - - - - 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type A 
B C 
D 
E  - 
- - 
- 
-  
- - - - - - - -  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 26  
PLURILATERAL AGREEMENT Z 
 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
   
   
   
   
 
 Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
 
 
  
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs amongst members of the plurilateral 
   
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties   
Provision to address overlaps with  other plurilateral agreements  
   
Accession provisions for third parties 
   
 
 Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 27PLURILATERAL AGREEMENT Z 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 if present  
0 if absent 12 if present  
0 if absent 5 if present 
 0 if absent 5.5 if present  
0 if absent 
7th freedom 6 if present  
0 if absent 5 if present  
0 if absent 5 if present  
0 if absent 5.5 if present  
0 if absent 
Cabotage 6 if present  
0 if absent 5 if present  
0 if absent 5 if present  
0 if absent 5.5 if present  
0 if absent  
Capacity 
Pre-determination 0 0 0 0 
"Bermuda 1" 4 3.5 3.5 3.5 
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval 0 0 0 0 
Country of origin 3 2.5 2.5 2.5 
Double disapproval 6 5 5 5.5 
Zone pricing 4 or 7 3.5 or 6 3.5 or 6 3.5 or 6.5 
Free pricing  8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control 0 0 0 0 
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of business 8 7 14 7.5  
Designation 
Single designation 0 0 0 0 
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 if absent  
0 if present  1 if absent  
0 if present 1 if absent 
0 if present 1 if absent  
0 if present 
Cooperative arrangements 3 if present 
0 if absent 2.5 if present  
0 if absent 2.5 if present  
0 if absent 2.5 if present  
0 if absent  
Tentative ALI      
Tentative Type   
 Source :  WTO Secretariat.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 28 PLURILATERAL AGREEMENT Z 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
A     
B     
C     
D     
E     
 
 Notes: Traffic data is IATA country-pair data for 2005.  Pax = passengers. 
 Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
 495,343,012  
 
  Notes: Traffic data is IATA country-pair data for 2005.  Pax = passengers.   Source
:  WTO Secretariat. 
 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 29 
PLURILATERAL AGREEMENT Z 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Member A Member B Member C Member D Member E 
Member A  x    
Member B x     
Member C     x 
Member D      
Member E   x   
 
 Notes: A direct service is a service operated under the same flight number by IATA member airlines, based on summer 2006 IATA 
mileage data. 
 Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
 
 
 S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 30  
 
   
Index of the plurilateral Air Services Agreements profiled 
 
Plurilateral ASA  Page number  
Sub-list I  
ACAC  31 
Andean Pact  39 
Banjul  47 
BIMP-EAGA  55 
CARICOM-MASA  63 
CEMAC  71 
CLMV  79 
COMESA  87 
ECAA  95 
EU-CH  105 
Euro-Med  113 
Fortaleza  123 
IATA44  131 
IMT-GT  139 
MALIAT  145 
US-EU  153 
Yamoussoukro  165 
Sub-list II  
ACS  175 
ASEAN Roadmap  183 
PIASA  191 
WAEMU  199 
 
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 31 
 
 
   
 
 
    
 
ACAC 
 
(Intra-Arab Freedom of the Air Programme  
of the Arab Civil Aviation Commission) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement is availabl e (in Arabic only) at:  www.acac.org.ma 
 
• An English translation by the WTO Secretariat is available on request. 
 
• A summary titled "Liberalization of Air Tr ansport Services among ACAC Members", 
presented by Oman on behalf of the Members of ACAC at the 35th session of the ICAO 
Assembly (document A35-WP/217 EC/36, da ted 27 September 2004) is available at:  
www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm37 
 
                                                      
37 The document also describes the intra-Arab lib eralization efforts prior to the 2004 Damascus 
agreement and the difficulties encountered.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 32 
ACAC 
 
 Bahrain 
Qata r
Saudi 
Arabia United Arab Emirates Syria 
Lebanon 
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 33ACAC 
 
Table 1 
 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th 
freedom 9th 
freedom 
19 December 2004 Yes within the territory covered by the agreement: 
"The air transport company/companies designated in accordance with the provisions of this 
agreement shall enjoy the exercise of the following air transport rights....c) the right to embark 
and disembark passengers, cargo and post whether separately or combined to and from any of the 
territories of the State Parties" 
(Article 4.2c) 
 No. 
"This agreement shall not 
impose on the States 
Parties the granting of 
Domestic air transport 
rights" 
(Article 4.3) 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type   
 
 
Algeria Bahrain 
Comoros 
Djibouti Egypt 
Iraq 
Jordan Kuwait 
Lebanon 
Libya Mauritania 
Morocco 
Oman Qatar 
Saudi 
Arabia Somalia 
Sudan 
Syria 
Tunisia 
UAE Yemen  
 
 
 
 6.1  10.2 
 6.0 
 10.0  9.5 
 2.2 
 12.1  2.3 
 9.7 
 10.3  8.2 
 10.5 
 7.3  10.7 
 
 9.3  6.6 
 10.0 
 8.2 
 9.9 
 11.3  3.0 Immediately after 
the deposit of the 
fifth instrument of 
ratification 
(Article 38) Community of 
interest 
(Article 5.2a) Multidesignation 
(Article 5.1) Free 
determination 
(Article 7.1) Free pricing 
subject to 
filing (but not 
to approval) 
and to 
guidelines to 
prevent anti-
competitive 
practices 
(Article 8 and 
Annex I) Cooperative 
arrangements 
(Article 13) 
 
Exchange of 
statistics 
(Article 18) 39 G  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 34 
ACAC 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services  Article 2.1 Same regime as passenger services 
Non-scheduled air transport services Annex 4 Subject to the rule of the country of origin but with fifth freedom rights 
within the agreements and free capacity 
Selling and marketing Article 12 Full rights of es tablishment, currency conversion and transfer 
Ground handling  Article 12.5 Right to self-handle and to use mutual and third party handling 
Dry and wet leasing Article 15 Full right to lease, including from third party lessors 
Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) Article 17 Ap plication of the Arab code of conduct for CRS 
Subsidies Article 19 Principle of  self-restraint and consultation 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 35ACAC  
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties 
concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral 
 Article 2.3 "The provisions of this Agreement shall s upersede any conflicting provisions of the bilateral or 
multilateral agreements concluded to regulate ai r transport between the States Parties.  Any 
provisions of such agreements th at are not stipulated in this Ag reement shall remain in force." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between 
members of the plurilate ral and third parties Article 31 "1.  The States Parties shall not grant rights or give undertakings to third party States where such 
rights or undertakings could restri ct or affect the rights conferred upon the States Parties under this 
Agreement. 
2.  The rights conferred upon the States Partie s under this Agreement sh all not be subject to 
individual negotiations or dealings with any third party state or states where such negotiations or 
dealings could affect the rights of th e other State Party/States Parties. 
3.  The arrangements and mechanisms relating to group or multilateral negotiations referred to in paragraph (2) of this article shall be subject to a regulatory framework in the form of an agreement 
which shall enter into force in accordance with  the constitutional procedures of each State." 
Provision to address overlaps with other 
plurilateral agreements  Article 34 "1.  Any State Party linked to another State Party or third party State by commitments in the field 
of air transport which are in conf lict with the provisions of this Agreement shall take the necessary 
steps to release itself from such commitments without delay. 
2.  Any State Party whose air transport compan y/companies has/have entered into commitments 
which are in conflict with this Ag reement shall take the steps necessa ry to secure release from such 
obligations as soon as possible. 
3.  The State Party concerned shall inform the General Secretariat to the Commission of the steps 
taken in respect of the two eventualities referred to above." 
Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Somalia and Tu nisia are also members of Yamoussoukro. 
Comoros, Egypt, Djibouti and Sudan are also members of COMESA and of Yamoussoukro 
Accession provisions for third parties  Article 32 "The State Party/States Parties shall have the right to exchange the air transport rights stipulated in 
this agreement on a basis of reciprocity with any a lliance of third party states grouped in a regional 
or sub-regional economic integration organization.  To this end, the States Parties may call on the 
assistance of the Arab Civil Aviation Commission or any other negotiating body which may be entrusted with this task." 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 36 
 
ACAC 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom 6 5 5 5.5 
Cabotage       
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5 The "free determination" principle must, however, be read in light of Annex I 
"Criteria and procedures for fixing tariffs". 
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 39 40.5 37 39.5  
Tentative Type G   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 37ACAC 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Algeria 424,026 1.3 4,083,938 10.4 
Bahrain 1,790,269 5.6 2,884,923 62.1 
Comoros 67,383 0.2 463,065 14.6 
Djibouti 162,299 0.5 298,326 54.4 
Egypt 4,421,986 13.9 8,367,133 52.8 
Iraq 101,074 0.3 102,600 98.5 
Jordan 1,644,140 5.2 2,889,672 56.9 
Kuwait 2,403,767 7.5 4,580,693 52.5 
Lebanon 1,666,375 5.2 3,447,567 48.3 
Libya 666,480 2.1 1,415,448 47.1 
Mauritania 66,986 0.2 245,745 27.3 
Morocco 621,775 2.0 5,532,719 11.2 
Oman 775,181 2.4 2,175,943 35.6 
Qatar 1,874,997 5.9 3,382,655 55.4 
Saudi Arabia 4,892,173 15.3 11,381,756 43.0 
Somalia 64,170 0.2 97,523 65.8 
Sudan 945,215 3.0 1,227,321 77.0 
Syria 1,590,182 5.0 2,585,545 61.5 
Tunisia 668,042 2.1 3,943,564 16.9 
UAE 6,299,414 19.8 20,607,321 30.6 
Yemen 739,898 2.3 1,026,309 72.1 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 38 
ACAC 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral agreement 
within total international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
15,942,916 495,343,012 3.2 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Alg. Bahr.  Com. Dji.  Egy. Iraq Jor. Kuw. Leb. Libya Maur. Mor. Om. Qatar SaudiA Som. Sud. Syr. Tun. UAE Yem. 
Algeria       x   x  x x x x  x x    x x x  
Bahrain     x  x x x    x x x  x x  x x 
Comoros    x             x   x x 
Djibouti    x            x x    x x 
Egypt x x     x x x x  x x x x  x x x x x 
Iraq        x           x    
Jordan x x   x x  x x x   x x x  x x x x x 
Kuwait  x   x  x  x    x x x   x  x x 
Lebanon x x   x  x x    x x x x  x x x x x 
Libya x    x  x     x  x x  x x x x  
Mauritania x           x       x   
Morocco x    x    x x x   x x   x x x  
Oman  x   x  x x x     x x  x   x x 
Qatar x x   x  x x x x  x x  x  x x x x x 
Saudi 
Arabia x x  x x  x x x x  x x x  x x x x x x 
Somalia     x           x     x  
Sudan  x x  x  x  x x   x x x   x  x x 
Syria x x   x x x x x x  x  x x  x  x x x 
Tunisia x    x  x  x x x x  x x   x  x  
UAE x x x x x  x x x x  x x x x x x x x  x 
Yemen  x x x x  x x x    x x x  x x  x  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 39 
 
 
   
 
 
      
ANDEAN PACT 
 
(Decision on the Integration of Air Tr ansport within the Andean Pact) 
 
  
• The text of decision 582 of the Andean Pact, cons olidating decisions 297, 320, 360 and 361, is 
available (in Spanish only) at:  http://w ww.comunidadandina.org/normativa/dec/d582.htm 
 
• A summary in English can be found at: 
http://www.ftaa-alca./org/Wgroups/W GSV/SAgreem/English/Sv_p231.asp 
 
• A summary by ICAO, titled "Andean Open Skies Pact " and dated February 2 003, is available at: 
www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 40 ANDEAN PACT 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 41 
ANDEAN PACT 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of signature 3rd freedom 4th 
freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom  7th freedom 8th 
freedom 9th freedom 
D297: 
16 May 1991 
D320: 
17 June 1992 
D360: 
27 May 1994 
D361: 
27 May 1994 
D582: 
4 May 2004  Unlimited 
(Article 6) Within the 
agreement: 
unlimited  
(Article 6) 
Extra-regional: 
flights subject to 
bilateral or 
multilateral 
negotiations 
maintaining the 
principle of equity 
and under 
appropriate 
compensation 
formulae  
(Article 9 ) No No No No 
Date of entry into 
force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI 
(STD) Tentative 
type  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 Bolivia 
Colombia 
Ecuador Peru 
[Venezuela, 
 Boliv. 
Rep]
1  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  9.5 
11.8 
12.5 22.7 
 8.0 
 
Same dates as 
above, since 
Andean 
Community 
decisions are 
immediately self 
implementing 
except if indicated 
otherwise
2 Principal place 
of business 
(Article 12) Multi-
designation 
(Article 11)  Free determination 
(Article 6)3 Country of 
origin 
(Article 20) Cooperative 
arrangement 
clause 
(Article 23) 33 O 
                                                      
1 Venezuela withdrew from the Andean pact in August 2006. 
2 See Article 3 of the Treaty Instituting the Andean Community Court of Justice (http://www.comuni dadandina.org/normative/tratpr ot/moditrib.htm).  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 42 ANDEAN PACT 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services (separately or in combination) Articles 6 and 9  Unlimited third, fourth and fifth freedom rights with in the 
agreement.  
Extra-regional flights are subject to bilateral or multilateral 
negotiations maintaining the principle of equity and under appropriate compensation formulae  
Non-scheduled cargo services Articles 8 and 10 Unlimited third, fourth and fifth freedom rights within the 
agreement. 
 Unlimited fifth freedom rights for flights between Member States 
and third countries 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 7 and 9 Within th e agreement, for flights between city-pairs not already 
served:  unlimited third, fourth and fifth freedom rights;  for other city-pairs:  granting of third, fourth and fifth freedom rights 
subject to an economic needs test. 
 
"Member States ... shall establish the conditions for the 
realization of non scheduled passenger flights that take place between Member States and third countries"  
Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) Article 22 Applicability of the ICAO code of conduct  
 
   
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
 
3 Decision 582 does not seem to cover capacity as such.  Howeve r, the ICAO summary "Andean Open  Skies Pact" clearly identifies f ree determination (paragraph  2.1 reads:  "without 
limitations on the number of airlines, capacity and frequencies").  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 43ANDEAN PACT 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral 
 Articles 2, 3 
and 27  "Member States shall revise the bilateral agreements or other legal 
instruments in force among them so as  to adapt them to the free exchange 
of aero-commercial intra-sub-regional rights that fulfil the community interest, ensure a fair competition as well as the  quality and efficiency of 
air transport services." 
 
"Member States shall apply the deci sion to passenger, cargo and mail, 
scheduled or non scheduled, internati onal air transport services provided 
separately or in combination, among their respective territories
 and 
between their territories and third countries." 
 "This decision does not imply, under any circumstances, restrictions to 
the advantages which the Members States have granted each other or 
which they could grant each other, by  means of bilateral or multilateral 
agreements or conventions." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties Articles 2 
and 26(h) "Member States shall apply the deci sion to passenger, cargo and mail, 
scheduled or non scheduled, internati onal air transport services provided 
separately or in combination, among their respective territories and between their territories and third countries
." 
 
"The Aeronautical Authorities Andean Committee will have the following functions: [...] to propose joint po sitions for negotiations with third 
countries in order to obtain maximal benefits for the region." 
Provision to address overlaps w ith other plurilateral agreements 
 None Bolivia and Peru are also me mbers of the Fortaleza agreement. 
Colombia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela are also members of 
the ACS agreement. 
Accession provisions for third parties None  
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 44 ANDEAN PACT 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin 3 2.5 2.5 2.5 
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business 8 7 14 7.5  
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 33 35.5 35.5 34  
Tentative Type O Type O is due to the "country of origin" tariff clause;  with respect to all 
other provisions, the agreement would be of type G.  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 45ANDEAN PACT 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Bolivia 86,388 4.0 700,448 12.3 
Colombia 693,952 32.5 3,89,413 17.8 
Ecuador 449,081 21.0 2,156,369 20.8 
Peru 390,018 18.3 2,908,830 13.4 
[Venezuela, Boliv. Rep.] 517,007 24.2 3,472,733 14.9 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
1,068,223 495,343,012 0.2 
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 46  
ANDEAN PACT 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
Destination
Origin  Bolivia  Colombia  Ecuador  Peru  [Venezuela, 
B.R.] 
Bolivia  x x x x 
Colombia x  x x x 
Ecuador x x  x x 
Peru x x x  x 
[Venezuela, B.R.] x x x x  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 47 
 
 
   
 
 
      
BANJUL 
 
(Banjul Accord Group Agreement) 
   
• The text of the agreement is available on request from the Secretariat.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 48 
BANJUL 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 49BANJUL 
 
 
 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
29 January 
2004 Yes, by cross-reference to Yamoussoukro 
(Articles 1 and 3.1) No specific provision  Explicit exclusion 
(Article 5.2) 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation  Capacity Tariffs  Other QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type Cape  Verde Gambia Ghana Guinea 
 Bissau 
Nigeria Sierra  Leone 16.4 
  9.0  9.9  0.0 
 
 7.5 12.2  After the fifth 
ratification 
(Article 15.2) Community of 
interest, 
by cross-reference 
to Yamoussoukro Multidesignation, 
by cross-reference 
to Yamoussoukro Free 
determination, by 
cross-reference to 
Yamoussoukro Free pricing with 
filing for increases, 
by cross-reference 
to Yamoussoukro Cooperative 
arrangements, by 
cross-reference to 
Yamoussoukro 34 G 
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 50 
BANJUL 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
- - - 
 
  
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Article 15.4 "Upon the entry into force of this Agreement, the provisions enshrined herein shall 
supersede any existing multilateral or bilate ral agreements on air services between 
and or among Member States, which are incompatible with this Agreement." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral 
agreements  - All members of the Banjul Agreemen t are also members of Yamoussoukro. 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 4.1 "Membership of the Banjul Accord Group is open to Stat es, State Agencies and 
Eligible Airlines within the Economic Community of West African States 
(ECOWAS) and other African sub-regions subject to the following:  
4.1.1 that the main objectives or actions of  such interested States, State Agencies and 
Eligible Airlines are consistent with the full implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration, the Decision  and this Agreement; and 
 
4.1.2 that such application for membership receives the approval of at least two-thirds of the Member States of the Group." 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 51BANJUL 
 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 34 36.5 33 35  
Tentative Type G All features are determined through cross-references to Yamoussoukro.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 52 
BANJUL 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Cape Verde 3,938 0.4 316,256 1.2 
Gambia 111,638 12.5 299,625 37.3 
Ghana 297,766 33.4 1,214,241 24.5 
Guinea Bissau 17,375 1.9 68,330 25.4 
Nigeria 301,642 33.8 2,214,913 13.6 
Sierra Leone 160,211 17.9 334,806 47.9 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
446,285 495,343,012 0.1 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 53BANJUL 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Cape 
Verde Gambia Ghana Guinea 
Bissau Nigeria Sierra 
Leone 
Cape Verde   x x x    
Gambia x  x x x x 
Ghana x x   x x 
Guinea Bissau x x     
Nigeria  x x   x 
Sierra Leone   x x  x  
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 55 
 
 
   
 
 
    
BIMP-EAGA 
 
(Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area) 
 
 
 
• The text of the agreement is available on request from the Secretariat.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 56 
BIMP-EAGA 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 57BIMP-EAGA 
 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
21 February 
1995 "Full... unless otherwise pre-
determined in the current bilateral 
air services agreement" 
(Article 6.2.1) No specific provision Explicit exclusion 
(Article 6.2.2)  
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type 
Brunei D. Indonesia 
Malaysia Philippines 16.7 
12.9 
10.7 13.1 
21 February 
1995 No specific 
provision Multi 
designation, 
limited to two 
airlines Free 
determination 
unless 
otherwise pre-
determined in 
the current 
bilateral air 
services 
agreement 
(Article 6.2.1) No specific 
provision No specific 
provision Cannot be 
computed in 
the absence of 
most of the 
QUASAR 
features Cannot be 
determined 
in the 
absence of 
most of the 
QUASAR 
features  
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 58 
BIMP-EAGA 
 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 6.2.1 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services Article 6.2. 1 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Preamble and 
Article 6.2.1 "Without prejudice to ex isting agreements ... ". 
No restrictions on capacity, frequency or aircraft type "unless otherwise predetermined in the current air service agreement". 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties Preamble "Without prejudice to  existing agreements ... " 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral 
agreements 
 - Indonesia and Malaysia are also members of the ASEAN Roadmap and 
the IMT-GT agreements. 
Accession provisions for third parties  - - 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 59BIMP-EAGA 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type  
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom     
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other     The free determination principle has to be read in the light of Article 
6.2.1, which stipulates:  "... without any restriction on capacity, 
frequency and aircraft type, unless otherwise pre determined in the 
current bilateral air services agreement ". 
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5 Limited to two airlines (Article 7). 
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI - - - - Cannot be computed in the absence of most of the QUASAR 
features. 
Tentative Type - Cannot be determined in the absence of most of the QUASAR 
features.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 60 
BIMP-EAGA 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Brunei Darussalam 237,421 4.1 556,126 42.7 
Indonesia 2,497,356 42.9 11,681,464 21.4 
Malaysia 2,747,108 47.2 14,188,052 19.4 
Philippines 342,075 5.9 9,594,027 3.6 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
2,911,281 495,343,012 0.6 
 
   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 61BIMP-EAGA 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Brunei D. Indonesia Malaysia Philippines  
Brunei D.   x x x 
Indonesia x  x x 
Malaysia x x  x 
Philippines x x x   S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 63 
 
 
   
   
 
    
CARICOM-MASA 
 
(Caribbean Community Multilateral Air Services Agreement) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at: 
http://www.caricom.org/jsp/legal_instruments_ multilateral air services agreement.jsp 
 
• A summary presented by the CARICOM Secretariat at ICAO's Fifth Worldwide Air 
Transport Conference, titled "Liberalization of Air Transport Services within the Caribbean 
Community" and dated March 2003, is available at:  
www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 64 
CARICOM-MASA 
  
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 65CARICOM-MASA 
 
 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD)  Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom 8th freedom 9th 
freedo
m 
Antigua and Barbuda  14.0 
Bahamas  5.0 
Barbados 14.1 
Belize  - 
Dominica  - 
Grenada 25.9 6 July 1996 Unlimited 
(Article 6)  Yes, but 
subject to 
reciprocity 
(Article 7)  No specific 
provisions No specific 
provisions Explicit exclusion 
(Article 8)  
Guyana  6.0 
Jamaica 24.7 Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentat
ive 
type 
Montserrat  - 
Saint Kitts and Nevis  8.0 
Saint Lucia 11.8 
Saint Vincent and the 
 Grenadines  - 
Suriname 13.6 
Trinidad and Tobago 11.5 17 November 
1998 for nine 
Members1 Community 
of interest 
(Articles 2c 
and 13)  Multi-
designation 
(Article 4.1)  Free 
determination 
(implicit)  Dual 
disapproval 
(Articles 15.3 
and 15.4)  No specific 
provisions 29 G 
 
 
                                                      
1 Antigua and Barbuda;  Barbados;  Belize;  Dominica;  Grenada;  Guyana;  Saint Kitts and Nevis;  Saint Lucia;  Trinidad and Tob ago.   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 66 
CARICOM-MASA 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
(Scheduled) cargo services Article 1 Air tr ansportation of cargo is included in the definition of third and fourth freedom righ ts and of scheduled services in Article 1.  
There is no definition of fifth freedom rights in this article, hence the status of air cargo services remains ambiguous in tha t regard. 
Air taxi operations Article 9 "Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 6 in respect of third and fourth freedom traffic right s, Member States shall take special 
account of the nature and market circumstan ces with respect to day tours and air taxi services and may, on a bilateral basis, 
stipulate, as necessary, uplift or directional conditions in keeping with the prevailing traffic requirements." 
Competition Article 14 Detailed disciplines. 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third 
parties concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members 
of the plurilateral Article 18 "This Agreement shall not affect any bilateral, mu ltilateral or other contractual agreement or arrangements;  or 
operating licences or other documents evidencing similar authorisations already in force between Member States  or 
between a Member State and a non-Member State." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral and third 
parties Article 18 "This Agreement shall not affect any bilateral, mu ltilateral or other contractual agreement or arrangements;  or 
operating licences or other documents evidencing similar auth orisations already in force between Member States or 
between a Member State and a non-Member State
."  No provision for future bilateral agreement with third parties. 
Provision to address overlaps with 
other plurilateral agreements   Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Domini ca; Grenada; Guyana; Jamaica; St. Kitts and Nevis; 
Saint Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; and Trinidad and Tobago are also members of the ACS 
agreement. 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 23 "After the entry into force of  this Agreement, any State listed in the Annex (Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of 
the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonw ealth of Dominica, Grenada, Co-opera tive Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, 
Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincen t and the Grenadines, Republic of Suriname, Republic of 
Trinidad and Tobago) to this Agreement which is not a sign atory to the Agreement, or any State or Territory which 
becomes a Member State of the Community  wishing to become a party to this Agreement shall deposit an appropriate 
Instrument of Accession with the Secretary-General of th e Community and such Accession shall take effect on the 
date of the receipt of such Instrument  by the Secretary-General who shall tran smit a certified copy to the Government 
of each Member State." 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 67CARICOM-MASA 
 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage     The number of points attributed  should probably be diminished, as Article 7 grants "fifth freedom 
traffic rights between points in two Member States or between a Member State and a non Member State 
on the basis of the reciprocal and liberal exchange  of these rights between the Members States 
concerned " 
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other     According to Article 4.1, however, multiple designation can be refused "in cases where by virtue of the 
nature of the route and, in particular, the characteristics of the market, the operations of air services by 
additional CARICOM air carriers would lead to serious financial loss to the existing carriers licensed by both Member States".  This provision may have a b earing on capacity.  The same goes for the provision 
of Article 14.4 on "fair competition", which stipul ates:  "Member States shall take into account the 
requirements of the public for transportation and the ne ed for stability on the specific routes, and shall 
have as their primary objective the provision, at a reasonable load factor, of capacity adequate to meet 
the current and reasonably anticipa ted requirements for the carriage of  passengers, cargo and mail on the 
specified routes." 
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval 6 5 5 5.5 
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5 See observation above on capacity. 
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI 29 32 28.5 30.5  
Tentative Type G   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 68 
CARICOM-MASA 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral agreement Contribution of each member 
to the total traffic of the 
plurilateral agreement  Total international traffic of 
the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of the 
member Members 
(pax) (%) (pax) (%) 
Antigua and Barbuda  423,265 10.6 929,180 45.6 
Bahamas 76,563 1.9 4,026,094 1.9 
Barbados 872,908 21.8 1,953,075 44.7 
Belize 4,852 0.1 528,188 0.9 
Dominica 140,155 3.5 247,032 56.7 
Grenada 263,940 6.6 391,102 67.5 
Guyana 251,131 6.3 491,108 51.1 
Jamaica 188,787 4.7 3,441,517 5.5 
Montserrat 22,077 0.6 23,912 92.3 
Saint Kitts and Nevis 173,330 4.3 570,085 30.4 
Saint Lucia 377,225 9.4 901,550 41.8 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 325,674 8.1 411,811 79.1 
Suriname 56,878 1.4 316,687 18.0 
Trinidad and Tobago 821,777 20.6 1,652,622 49.7 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
1,999,281 495,343,012 0.4  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 69CARICOM-MASA 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Antigua 
and 
Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Dominica Grenada Guyana Jamaica Montserrat Saint 
Kitts 
and 
Nevis Saint 
Lucia Saint 
Vincent 
and the 
Grenadines Suriname Trinidad 
and 
Tobago 
Antigua and Barbuda  
   x  x x x x x x x x  x 
Bahamas        x       
Barbados x    x x x x  x x x  x 
Belize               
Dominica x  x   x x   x x x  x 
Grenada x  x  x   x  x x x  x 
Guyana x  x  x     x   x x 
Jamaica x x x   x     x  x x 
Montserrat x              
Saint Kitts and Nevis 
x  x  x x x    x x  x 
Saint 
Lucia x  x  x x  x  x  x  x 
Saint 
Vincent & the Gren. 
x  x  x x    x x   x 
Suriname       x x      x 
Trinidad and Tobago 
x  x  x x x x  x x x x  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 71 
 
 
   
 
 
   
CEMAC 
 
(Agreement on Air Transport of the Communauté Economique  
et Monétaire d'Afrique Centrale (CEMAC)) 
  
 
• The text of the agreement (in French only) is available at: 
http://www.izf.net/IZF/Documentation /jour nal Officiel/Afrique Centrale/REG_6_99.htm   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 72 CEMAC 
 Cameroon
Central African Re public 
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 73CEMAC 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
4 March 
1999 Unlimited 
(Article 12) First two years, 
60 per cent of 
preceding year 
[fifth freedom?] 
traffic or capacity 
reserved to 
airlines operating 
in third and fourth 
freedoms and 
40 per cent to 
[other?] 
designated 
airlines;  full 
liberalization 
thereafter 
(Article 13) No specific provision Possibility to designate a 
company of another Member 
State in case of necessity 
(Article 16) 
Date of 
entry into 
force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative ALI 
(STD) Tentative 
type Cameroon 
Central 
 African  Republic 
Chad 
Congo Equatorial 
 Guinea 
Gabon 9.8 
8.2 
  
9.4 
7.8 8.0 
 
3.1 
17 August 
1999 
(Article 26) Principal 
place of 
business 
(Article 4.1) Multidesignation 
(2 airlines per 
country) 
(Article 4.2), 
plus 
possibility to 
designate an 
airline from 
another Member 
State 
(Article 4.5) Predetermination 
for the 
frequencies but 
not for the 
individual 
capacity of an 
aircraft 
(Articles 14 and 
15) Free pricing 
(Article 
18.1) Cooperative 
arrangements 
(Article 20) 
 
Exchange of 
statistics  
(Article 19) 37 O 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 74 CEMAC 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services Articles 12 and 13 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Non-scheduled cargo services Article 17 "Freedom regime" 
National treatment Article 5 For the use of in frastructure, equipment, services in the 
airports, as well as for user fees 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties 
concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral 
 Article 25.2 "If need be [...] the Agreement concluded between 
Member States shall be revised so as to conform with the 
provisions of the present agreement in a delay that shall 
not exceed one year after its entry into force." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilate ral and third parties Article 25.1 
and 25.2 "The present agreement is without prejudice to the 
existing bilateral agreement between Member States and 
third parties.  If need be those Agreements [...] shall be 
revised so as to conform to the provisions of the present agreement in a delay that sh all not exceed one year after 
its entry into force." 
Provision to address overlaps with other 
plurilateral agreements   All CEMAC members are also members of 
Yamoussoukro 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 24 Open to all non-member Central African countries  
 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 75CEMAC 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage 6 5 5 5.5 Points for cabotage have been attributed since a form of cabotage is permitted (i.e. the 
possibility to designate a company of another Member to operate cabotage services in case of 
necessity, as foreseen by Article 16).  A more sophisticated coding methodology, however, would reduce the number of points attributed since cabotage rights are not guaranteed.  
Capacity 
Pre-determination 0 0 0 0 
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination     
Other     Although Article 15 indicates that there shall be no limitations on capacity and aircraft type, 
Article 14 stipulates that Member States shall agree on a maximum number of frequencies 
adapted to the traffic. 
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of business 8 7 14 7.5  
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 37 37 37 36  
Tentative Type O Predetermination of capacity, a restrictive feat ure, is usually found in ASA types exhibiting 
other restrictive features;  here, however it is comb ined with liberal elements akin to a type G.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 76 CEMAC 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Cameroon 260,310 30.7 950,434 27.4 
Central African Republic 69,924 8.3 102,365 68.3 
Chad 46,215 5.4 196,983 23.5 
Congo 144,238 17.0 506,016 28.5 
Equatorial Guinea 97,615 11.5 230,232 42.4 
Gabon 228,354 27.0 596,909 38.3 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
423,328 495,343,012 0.1 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 77CEMAC 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Cameroon Central 
African 
Republic Chad  Congo  Equatorial 
Guinea Gabon 
Cameroon   x x x x x 
Central African Republic x  x x  x 
Chad x x  x x  
Congo x x x  x x 
Equatorial Guinea x  x x  x 
Gabon x x  x x  
 
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 79 
 
 
   
 
   
 
   
CLMV 
 
(Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Viet Nam Agreement) 
 
 
 
• The text of the agreement was provided by the ICAO Secretariat and is available, on request, 
from the WTO Secretariat.  
 
• A summary presented by the CLMV Member States at ICAO's Fifth Worldwide Air 
Transport Conference, titled "Sub-Regional Cooperation on Air Transport among Cambodia, 
Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar a nd Viet Nam (CLMV)" and dated February 
2003, is available at:  www.icao.int/cgi/g oto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 80 CLMV 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 81CLMV 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
4 December 
2003 Unlimited 
(Article 2.1(c)) Granted "subject to 
an Agreement 
between the 
Aeronautical 
Authorities of the 
Contracting Parties 
concerned" 
(Article 2.1(c)) No specific 
provision No specific 
provision Explicit prohibition 
(Article 2.3) 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation  Capacity Tariffs  Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative type Cambodia 
Lao PDR 
Myanmar  
Viet Nam 8.1 
0.2 
7.1 
8.0 
Three months 
after the 
deposit of the 
last ratification Substantial 
ownership and 
effective 
control 
(Article 4.1) Multidesignation 
(Article 3) Free determination 
(Article 14.2) Double 
disapproval 
(Articles 8.3 
and 8.4)1 Cooperative 
arrangements 
(Article 11) 28 G 
 
                                                      
1  The actual clause is somewhere betw een double disapproval and free pricing.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 82 
CLMV 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services  Article 2 Unlimited save for fi fth freedom rights, which rema in subject to the agreement 
of the Contracting Parties concerned. 
Charter services Articles 2.4 and 14.3 "Each Contracting Party shall impose no limitation as to charter services, 
provided that such services are subj ect to submission procedures of each 
Contracting Party." 
"There shall be no limitations as to operation or sale of charter international air 
transportation, subject to submission procedures of each Contracting Party." 
Dry and wet leasing Article 9 Allowed, provided it is not used as a disguised means for the sub-party lessor to 
access traffic rights.  
Selling and marketing Article 10 Full right of es tablishment, currency conversion and transfer.  
Ground handling  Article 10.5 Right to choose among competitive providers. 
Computers Reservation Systems Article 12 Application of the ICAO code of conduct. 
User charges Article 13.1 National treatment.   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 83CLMV 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties 
concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral 
 Article 22 "Upon entry into force of this Ag reement, any bilateral air transport agreement 
existing between any Contracting Parties at the time of such entry into force 
shall terminate.  In the case a Contracting Party withdraw s from this Agreement, the respective 
bilateral air transport agreement between that Contracting Party and each of the 
other Contracting Parties concerned shall automatically resume its validity." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between 
members of the plurilate ral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with other 
plurilateral agreements  - All members of CLMV are also members of the ASEAN Roadmap. 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 23 "This CLMV Multilateral Agreement on Air Services shall be open for 
accession by other countries as Contrac ting Countries subject to the acceptance 
of all existing Contracting Countries.  The new Contracting Countries shall adhere to all legal instruments of th e Sub-region by a written notification of 
adherence, and observe strictly app licable Rules of Procedures for the 
Organization and Activities of the Sub-regional Air Transport Cooperation among Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam." 
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 84 CLMV  
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval 6 5 5 5.5 
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 28 31 24 29.5  
Tentative Type G   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 85CLMV 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Members Traffic with the 
other members of 
the plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the 
member  Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member 
 (pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Cambodia 673,341 46.8 2,092,646 32.2 
Lao PDR 84,719 5.9 341,265 24.8 
Myanmar  5,272 0.4 801,743 0.7 
Viet Nam 674,060 46.9 6,224,375 10.8 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
718,696 495,343,012 0.1 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 86 CLMV 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Cambodia Lao PDR Myanmar Viet Nam 
Cambodia   x  x 
Lao PDR x   x 
Myanmar     
Viet Nam x x   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 87 
 
 
   
 
 
   
COMESA 
 
(Common Market for Eastern and Southern  Africa (COMESA) Regulations for the 
Implementation of the Liberalized Air Transport Industry)38 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at: 
http://www.comesa.int/transport/Aviation/lib eral/ Multi-language_content.2004-10-12 
                                                      
38 "COMESA" is the term used by ICAO.  The full name of the agreement is "Legal Notice No. 2 of 
1999, Council regulations, COMESA regulations for th e implementation of the lib eralized air transport 
industry".  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 88 COMESA  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 89COMESA 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  5th freedom 8th 
freedom 9th freedom 
19992 Phase I (October 1999-October 2000):   
limited to two daily frequencies between any city pair;  above this 
threshold, pre-existing bilateral air services agreements will apply 
 
Phase II (as of October 2000): 
unlimited 
 
(Article 2) Phase I : 
limited to 30% 
of the carriers' 
capacity on 
routes where 
third and fourth 
freedom traffic 
rights services 
are provided and 
without 
restrictions 
where there are 
no such 
services. 
Phase II : 
complete 
freedom 
(Articles 3.4 and 
5.2) No obligation during phase 
I;  abolition of restrictions 
in phase II (Articles 3.4 and 
8) 
Date of 
entry into 
force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI 
(STD) Tentative 
type [Angola]1 
Burundi 
Comoros 
Congo Dem. 
 Rep. 
Djibouti Egypt 
Eritrea 
Ethiopia Kenya 
Madagascar 
Malawi Mauritius 
Rwanda 
Seychelles Sudan 
Swaziland 
Tanzania Uganda 
Zambia 
Zimbabwe  1.0 
 5.4 
 6.0 
 8.6 
 
 10.0  9.5 
 - 
 10.4  5.2 
 7.7 
 7.8  6.2 
 6.2 
 3.7  10.0 
 14.0 
 5.8  6.7 
 9.6 
 7.5 
October 
1999 Community 
of interest 
(Articles 1.9, 
3 and 10) Multidesignation 
as of 
October 1999 
(Articles 2(a) 
and 3.4) See above 
(freedoms) No explicit 
provision Cooperative 
arrangements 
(Article 6) 38 The type 
could not be 
determined in 
the absence of 
a specific 
pricing 
clause.  
                                                      
 1  Although still formally a Member of CO MESA, Angola has withdrawn from its activities. 
 2  The COMESA website does not indicate a precise date for its "Legal Notice No. 2".  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 90 
COMESA 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 2(a)(i) Unlimited third to ninth freedom rights as of October 1999. 
Air cargo services Article 2(a)(i) Unlimited third to ninth freedom rights as of October 1999. 
National treatment for investment in air 
support services Article 9 "Intra-COMESA cross-border investment in air transport aspects such as 
airports, maintenance facilities, air ca rriers, ground handling services, will 
be permitted without restrictions an d investors will be accorded national 
treatment." 
 
  
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 - - 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral 
agreement  - All COMESA members are also  members of Yamoussoukro. 
Comoros, Egypt, Djibouti and Sudan are, in addition, also members of ACAC. 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 - - 
 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 91COMESA 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom 6 5 5 5.5 
Cabotage 6 5 5 5.5  
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing      The agreement does not contain an explicit pricing provision. 
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of business     Although the text refers to "substantial owners hip and effective control", the way in which 
this is defined, i.e. " to be controlled by COMESA States, a national of a COMESA States or a combination of
 COMESA States and/or their nationals through a simple majority 
share holding and through both the Board an d executive management", assimilates it to 
"community of interest" in the sense of QUASAR.   
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 38 39.5 36 38.5  
Tentative Type - The type could not be determined because of the absence of a specific pricing clause.  The 
other provisions are akin to type G. 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 92 COMESA  
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Members Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total traffic 
of the plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral agreement 
within total international traffic of 
the member 
 (pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
[Angola] 25,831  0.7 495,437  5.2 
Burundi 91,115  2.5 106,611  85.5 
Comoros 108,612  3.0 463,065  23.5 
Congo Dem. Rep. 80,099  2.2 380,052  21.1 
Djibouti 88,810  2.4 298,326  29.8 
Egypt 197,581  5.4 8,367,133  2.4 
Eritrea 50,072  1.4 196,512  25.5 
Ethiopia 200,555  5.5 901,033  22.3 
Kenya 986,445  27.1 2,646,410  37.3 
Madagascar 99,390  2.7 495,468  20.1 
Malawi 111,744  3.1 279,114  40.0 
Mauritius 116,871  3.2 1,875,972  6.2 
Rwanda 193,159  5.3 249,567  77.4 
Seychelles 52,754  1.4 368,082  14.3 
Sudan 220,757  6.1 1,227,321  18.0 
Swaziland 2,893  0.1 69,935  4.1 
Tanzania 438,545  12.0 1,079,603  40.6 
Uganda 343,799  9.4 626,431  54.9 
Zambia 111,086  3.0 561,946  19.8 
Zimbabwe 126,252  3.5 721,888  17.5 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 93Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
1,823,185 495,343,012 0.4 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 94 COMESA 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Ang. Bu.  Com. CDR Dji. Egy. Eri. Eth. Ken. Mad. Mal. Maur. Rwa. Sey. Sud. Swa. Tanz. Ug. Zam. Zimb.
[Angola]           x             x x 
Burundi        x x    x     x   
Comoros      x    x x     x  x    
Congo Dem. 
Rep.                     
Djibouti    x    x x x         x   
Egypt       x x x      x   x   
Eritrea      x x         x      
Ethiopia x x   x x   x  x  x  x  x x x x 
Kenya  x x  x x  x  x x x x x x  x x x x 
Madagascar   x      x   x         
Malawi        x x        x x x x 
Mauritius         x x    x      x 
Rwanda   x      x x         x   
Seychelles          x   x         
Sudan    x   x x x x         x   
Swaziland                     
Tanzania   x     x x  x       x  x 
Uganda  x   x x  x x  x  x  x  x   x 
Zambia x       x x  x         x 
Zimbabwe x       x x  x x     x x x  
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 95 
 
 
   
 
 
    
ECAA 
 
(European Common Aviation Area) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English can is available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/inter national/doc/reference/background/com_2006_0113_
en.pdf 
 
• An "information note" on the agreement prepared by the European Commission can be found at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/i nternational/pillars/common_aviation_area/  
doc/2006_05_30_annexe1_ecaa_en.pdf  
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 96 ECAA 
 
Netherlands 
Germany Belgium 
LuxembourgCzech Republic
Slovakia Austria 
Hungary 
Romania Slovenia
Bosnia and Herzegovina Evrom 
AlbaniaItaly 
GreeceFrance
MaltaPortu gal
SpainCyprusIrelan dUnited Kingdom 
PolandDenmark
BulgariaSwedenFinlandNorway 
Iceland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania 
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 97ECAA 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Grant of rights clause 
Transitional period(s): 
• For the following "Associated Parties":  Albania, Bosnia Herzeg ovina, Croatia, FYROM, Serbia a nd Montenegro;  and for the "addi tional 
party" UNMIK, two transiti onal periods and a final stage.  The passage to th e second transitional period and to the final stage  is contingent 
upon the implementation, as assessed by the European Commission, of a series of EC aviation regulations (as detailed in Table 8 ).  The grant of 
rights clause (Article 3 of the transition protocol prope r to each associated/additional party) reads as follows:  
"During the first transitional period: 
 Community air carriers and air carriers licensed by [name of the Associated or Additional Party] shall be permitted to exercis e unlimited 
traffic  rights between any points in [name of the Associated or Additional Party] and any points in an EC Member State.  (Arti cle 3 (a) (i) 
of the transition  protocol.) 
During the second transitional period:   
- Community air carriers shall be permitted to exercise unlimited traffic rights between [name of the Associated or Additional Party] and 
other  Associated Parties.  (Article 3 (b) (ii) of the transition protocol). 
- Air carriers licensed by [name of the Associated or Additional Party] shall be permitted to exercise unlimited traffic rights  between points in 
 different Member States.  (Article 3 (b) (ii))." 
• For Romania and Bulgaria, there is only one transitional period.  Passage to the fina l stage is contingent upon the implementat ion of the 
entirety of the EC regulations annexed to the ECAA Agreement.  Although Romania and Bulg aria are signatories of the ECAA as "As sociated 
Parties", these provisions are only of historic al interest since they have been legally  replaced by the provisions of their res pective adhesion 
treaty to the EU. 
 
Final stage: 
Application by all parties of the three components of the EU "T hird liberalisation package" i. e. Council Regulation (EEC) n°240 8/92 of 23 July 
1992 on access for Community air carriers to in tra-Community air routes (Articles 1 to 15 and Annexes I, II and III);  Council Regulation (EEC) 
n°2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers (Articles 1 to 18 and the Annex,  except for the reference in Article 13( 3) to Article 226 (ex 
169) of the EC Treaty);  and Council Regulation (EEC) n°2409/92 of  23 July 1992 on fares and rates for air services (Articles 1  to 10).  This implies 
complete liberalisation (as described extensively in the compil ation, pages 178-179) including of cabotage and the ownership re gime.  
Date of signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th 
freed
om EC 
Austria 
Belgium 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Slovak 
Republic 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United 
Kingdom 
 
Albania 
Bosnia &
 Herzegovina 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
  
 - 
 10.6 
 12.6 
 4.6 
 12.8 
 15.3  3.0 
 12.4 
 9.4 
 16.4 
 10.8 
 11.2 
 13.3 
 13.0 
 5.4 
 8.0 
 16.5 
 9.3 
 14.8 
 18.9 
 15.1 
 8.8 
 3.9 
 8.3 
 9.0 
 12.0 
 
 
 9.5 
 9.3 
 
 7.0 
 11.2 
 9 June 2006 Unlimited in the final stage  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 98 ECAA 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions (continued) 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative ALI 
(STD) Tentative 
type 
FYROM Iceland 
Norway 
Romania Serbia & 
 Montenegro
1 
United Nations  Mission in 
 Kosovo 
 (UNMIK)  5.1 
 15.6 
 9.4 
 8.5  8.2 
 
 -  
 
 Two months 
after 
ratification by 
the European 
Community 
and its 
Member States 
and at least 
one associated 
party 
(Article 29) Community of 
interest, 
including the 
possibility of 
majority 
ownership of 
the carrier of 
the other party 
as of the second 
transitional 
period Multidesignati
on by cross 
reference to 
the "Third 
liberalisation 
package" Free 
determination 
by cross 
reference to 
the "Third 
liberalisation 
package" Free pricing No specific 
provision 43 G 
 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 2(i) Same regime as for scheduled passenger 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services Article 2(i) Same regime as for scheduled passenger 
Regulatory harmonisation  Annex I and Article 2 of 
each transitional protocol See Table 8 
National treatment Article 6 Generic prohibition of national treatment restrictions 
within the scope of the agreement. 
Establishment  Article 7 Generic right of establishment in EC Member States 
and in the territory of ECAA partners. 
                                                      
1 Serbia and Montenegro are two distinct Associated Parties.  Ho wever, they have been treated as one entity for the current anal ysis in view of traffic data constraints.  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 99ECAA 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Article 28.1 et 28.2 "1.  The provisions of this Agreemen t shall prevail over the relevant provisions of bilateral 
air transport agreements and/or arrangements in force between the A ssociated Parties on 
the one hand and the European Community, an EC Member State, Norway or Iceland on 
the other hand, as well as between Associated Parties. 
2.  Notwithstanding paragraph 1, during the tr ansitional periods referred to in Article 27, 
the provisions concerning ownership, traffic rights capacity, frequencies, type or change of aircraft, code-sharing and pricing of a bilateral agreement or arrangement in force between 
an Associated Party and the European Comm unity, an EC Member State, Norway or 
Iceland or between two Associated Parties sha ll apply between the Parties thereto if such 
bilateral agreement and/or arrangement is more flexible, in terms of freedoms of the air 
carriers concerned, than the provisions of th e applicable Protocol with respect to the 
Associated Party concerned." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral 
agreements 
 Articles 2(e) and 5 "The term "ECAA partner" means Associated Party,  Norway or Iceland." 
"The provision of this agreement shall not affect the relation between the contracting 
parties of the European Economic Area Agreement." 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 32 "The European Community may ask any Stat e or entity which is prepared to make its laws 
on air transport and associated matters compa tible with those of the Community, and with 
which the Community has established or is establishing a framework of close economic cooperation, such as an Associ ation Agreement, to participate in the ECAA.  To this end, 
the Contracting Parties shall am end this Agreement accordingly."  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 100 ECAA 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom 6 5 5 5.5 
Cabotage 6 5 5 5.5  
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 3.5 3.5 
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI 43 44 37 43.5  
Tentative Type G   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 101ECAA 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Albania 753,859 2.1 870,408 86.6 
Austria 662,470 1.9 4,277,955 15.5 
Belgium 445,812 1.3 4,068,049 11.0 
Bosnia & Herzegovina 265,432 0.7 329,221 80.6 
Bulgaria 1,834,676 5.2 2,289,702 80.1 
Croatia 1,584,335 4.5 1,888,704 83.9 
Cyprus 116,989 0.3 1,449,086 8.1 
Czech Republic 357,324 1.0 1,901,969 18.8 
Denmark 1,891,672 5.3 4,782,071 39.6 
Estonia 71,527 0.2 177,825 40.2 
Finland 267,398 0.8 1,709,871 15.6 
France 1,298,836 3.7 30,999,023 4.2 
FYROM 370,978 1.0 556,230 66.7 
Germany 2,822,420 7.9 32,576,283 8.7 
Greece 429,930 1.2 2,648,457 16.2 
Hungary 260,440 0.7 1,416,304 18.4 
Iceland 994,826 2.8 1,225,016 81.2 
Ireland 131,645 0.4 3,145,120 4.2 
Italy 1,983,322 5.6 15,521,233 12.8 
Latvia 62,503 0.2 346,697 18.0 
Lithuania 53,837 0.2 204,944 26.3 
Luxembourg 28,531 0.1 290,961 9.8 
Malta 51,942 0.1 307,792 16.9 
Netherlands 746,626 2.1 9,817,710 7.6 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 102 ECAA 
 
Table 5 
Traffic carried by individual members of the plurilateral agreement (continued) 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Norway 8,335,790 23.4 9,771,901 85.3 
Poland 194,184 0.5 1,954,639 9.9 
Portugal 141,875 0.4 2,784,060 5.1 
Romania 2,720,085 7.6 3,540,984 76.8 
Serbia & Montenegro 1,348,978 3.8 2,103,922 64.1 
Slovak Republic 35,160 0.1 199,610 17.6 
Slovenia 133,092 0.4 362,649 36.7 
Spain 1,076,799 3.0 12,015,845 9.0 
Sweden 1,170,473 3.3 4,000,442 29.3 
United Kingdom 2,939,552 8.3 47,091,240 6.2 
UNMIK - - - - 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
17,791,659 495,343,012 3.6 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 103ECAA 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 AL AT BE BA BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR MK DE GR HU IS IE IT LV LT LU MT NL NO PL PT RO YU SK SI ES SE UK
Albania   x   x         x x x    x          x  x   x 
Austria x   x x x       x    x        x   x x      
Belgium     x x                   x   x x      
Bosnia & H.  x    x  x     x x  x   x          x  x   x 
Bulgaria x x x    x x x   x  x x x  x x    x x x x x x x x  x x x 
Croatia  x x x    x  x  x x x  x  x x  x   x x x x   x   x x 
Cyprus     x                       x x      
Czech Rep.    x x x       x            x   x x      
Denmark     x            x        x   x x      
Estonia      x                   x          
Finland                 x        x          
France     x x           x        x   x x      
FYROM  x  x  x  x      x  x   x     x     x  x    
Germany x   x x x       x    x        x   x x      
Greece x    x                    x   x x      
Hungary x   x x x       x            x   x x      
Iceland   x       x  x x  x     x     x x       x x x 
Ireland     x x                   x          
Italy x   x x x       x    x        x   x x      
Latvia                         x          
Lithuania      x                   x          
Luxembourg                                   
Malta     x                    x   x x      
Netherlands     x x       x    x        x   x x      
Norway  x x  x x  x x x x x  x x x x x x x x  x x  x x     x x x 
Poland     x x                   x   x       
Portugal     x x                   x          
Romania  x x  x  x x x   x  x x x   x    x x  x    x  x  x 
Serbia & M. x x x x x  x x x   x x x x x   x    x x       x  x x 
Slovak Rep.     x x                      x       
Slovenia x   x         x                x      
Spain     x            x        x   x       
Sweden     x x           x        x    x      
United King. x   x x x           x        x   x x      
 Notes:   Given that no information was available on direct services from and to UNMIK, the territory is not included in the ta ble.  Traffic relations between EC Member States 
   have been considered domestic and hence disregarded.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 104 ECAA 
 
Table 8 
Implementation calendar of EC aviation legislat ion for ECAA Associated and Additional Parties 
 
Periods 1 and 2 legislatio n and conditions Albania Bosnia & 
HerzegovinaCroatia FYROM Serbia & 
MontenegroUNMIK Bulgaria1Romania2 
Regulation (EEC) n° 3925/91 on elimination of control to 
cabin and hold baggage Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Regulation (EEC) n° 2409/92 on fares and rates for air 
services Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Regulation (EEC) n° 2027/97 on air carrier liability in the 
event of accident Period 1 Period 1 Period 1  Peri od 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Regulation (EEC) n°261/2004 on denied boarding Period 1 Period 1 Period 1  Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Directive 94/56 /EC on accident inves tigation Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Peri od 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Directive 2003/42/EC on occurrence reporting Period 1 Peri od 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Directive 2000/79/EC on working time in civil aviation Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Peri od 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Directive 2003/88/EC on working time Period 1 Period 1  Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Directive 96/67EC on ground handling Period 2 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 2 Period 1 Period 1 
Become full member of the Joint Aviation Authorities 
(JAA) Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 (application de facto  of 
JAA rules in view of the special  
legal status of UNMIK under 
international law) Period 1 Period 1 
Apply document ECAC 30 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Peri od 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Separate the air traffic serv ice provider and the national 
regulatory body, establish a national supervisory body for air 
traffic services, start the reorganization of the airspace into a 
functional block or blocks and apply flexible use of airspacePeriod 1 Period 2 Period 1 Pe riod 1 Period 1 Period 1 (no requirement to create a 
functional block) Period 1 Period 1 
Ratify the Montreal Convention on Rules for International 
Carriage Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
Having made sufficient progress in implementing the rules 
on State aid and competition  Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 Period 1 
All remaining EU aviation legislation c ontained in Annex I  Period 2 Period 2  Period 2 Period 2 Period 2 Period 2 Period 1 Period 1 
 
                                                      
1 Only one transitional period was foreseen for Bulgaria in view of its impending accession to the EU.  
2 Only one transitional period was foreseen for Roma nia in view of its impending accession to the EU.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 105 
 
 
   
    
 
 
 
EU-CH 
 
(Air Transport Agreement between the EU and Switzerland) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at: 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/e n/oj/2002/l_114/l_114 20020430en00730086.pdf 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 106 EU-CH 
Denmark
United Kingdom 
Ireland  SwedenFinland 
Estonia 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Poland Netherlands 
Germany Belgium 
Luxembourg Czech Republic 
Slovakia Austria
Switzerland France Hungary 
Romania 
Bulgaria Slovenia 
Portugal 
Spain Italy 
MaltaGreece 
Cyprus 
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 107EU-CH 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Grant of rights clause Members WALI 
(STD) "Community and Swiss air carriers shall be granted traffic rights between any point in Switzerland and any point in the Communi ty;  two years 
after the entry into force of this Agreement, Swiss air carrier s shall be granted traffic rights between points in different EC  Member States. 
The Contracting Parties shall undertake negotiations on the possibl e extension of the scope of this Article to cover traffic ri ghts between points 
within Switzerland and between points within the EC Member States  five years after the entry into force of this Agreement." 
(Article 15) 
Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 7th freedom 6th freedom  8th freedom 9th 
freedom 
21 June 1999 Unlimited as of the entry into force of 
the agreement Unlimited two years after the 
entry into force of the agreement No specific 
provision Possibility to negotiate the 
enlargement of the scope of 
the agreement to eighths and 
ninth freedom rights five 
years after the entry into 
force of the agreement 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative ALI 
(STD) Tentative 
type EC Austria Belgium Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland 
Portugal 
Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom  Switzerland   
 - 10.6 12.6   4.6 12.8 
15.3 
 3.0 12.4  9.4 16.4 10.8 11.2 13.3 13.0  5.4  8.0 16.5  9.3 14.8 
18.9 
15.1  8.8  3.9  8.3  9.0  12.0   9.8 
 1 June 2000 Community of 
interest on the E 
side and 
principle place 
of business for 
Switzerland, via 
the cross 
reference to the 
"Third 
liberalisation 
package" Multidesignation 
by cross 
reference to the 
"Third 
liberalisation 
package"  Free 
determination 
by cross 
reference to the 
"Third 
liberalisation 
package" Free pricing 
by cross 
reference to 
the "Third 
liberalisation 
package"  No specific 
provisions 39 G 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 108 EU-CH 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 15 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services Article 15 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
National treatment Article 3 Generic national treatment within the scope of the 
agreement 
Establishment Articles 4 and 5 Generic establishment clause 
Competition Articles 8 to 10 Prohibiti on of cartels and abuses of dominant 
position 
State aids Article 13  Detailed disciplines 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Article 33 "Without prejudice to Article 16, this Agreement 
shall supersede the relevant provisions of bilateral 
arrangements in force between Switzerland on the one hand and EC Member States on the other 
hand concerning any matter covered by this 
Agreement and the Annex thereof." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral 
agreements - - 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 - - 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 109EU-CH 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom 6 5 5 5.5 
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community 
of interest 4/2=2 3.5/2=1.75 7/2=3.5 3.5/2=1.75 
Principal place of 
business 8/2=4 7/2=3.5 14/2=7 7.5/2=3.75  
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI 39 40.75 39 40  
Tentative Type G   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 110 EU-CH 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Austria 747,601 2.5 4,277,955 17.5 
Belgium 480,468 1.6 4,068,049 11.8 
Cyprus 49,311 0.2 1,449,086 3.4 
Czech Republic 220,073 0.7 1,901,969 11.6 
Denmark 410,826 1.4 4,782,071 8.6 
Estonia 13,114 0.0 177,825 7.4 
Finland 162,716 0.5 1,709,871 9.5 
France 1,472,085 4.9 30,999,023 4.7 
Germany 2,745,426 9.1 32,576,283 8.4 
Greece 239,944 0.8 2,648,457 9.1 
Hungary 200,241 0.7 1,416,304 14.1 
Ireland 157,751 0.5 3,145,120 5.0 
Italy 923,045 3.1 15,521,233 5.9 
Latvia 19,420 0.1 346,697 5.6 
Lithuania 14,234 0.0 204,944 6.9 
Luxembourg 58,443 0.2 290,961 20.1 
Malta 50,496 0.2 307,792 16.4 
Netherlands 599,788 2.0 9,817,710 6.1 
Poland 141,952 0.5 1,954,639 7.3 
Portugal 614,393 2.0 2,784,060 22.1 
Slovak Republic 23,837 0.1 199,610 11.9 
Slovenia 24,737 0.1 362,649 6.8 
Spain 1,694,740 5.6 12,015,845 14.1 
Sweden 293,335 1.0 4,000,442 7.3 
Switzerland 15,046,775 50.0 21,495,024 70.0 
United Kingdom  3,688,799 12.3 47,091,240 7.8 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 111EU-CH 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
15,046,775 495,343,012 3.0 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 112 EU-CH 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 AT BE CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE GR HU IE IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT SK SI ES SE CH UK 
Austria                         x  
Belgium                         x  
Cyprus                         x  
Czech Republic                         x  
Denmark                         x  
Estonia                           
Finland                         x  
France                         x  
Germany                         x  
Greece                         x  
Hungary                         x  
Ireland                         x  
Italy                         x  
Latvia                           
Lithuania                           
Luxembourg                         x  
Malta                         x  
Netherlands                         x  
Poland                         x  
Portugal                         x  
Slovak Republic                         x  
Slovenia                         x  
Spain                         x  
Sweden                         x  
Switzerland x x x x x  x x x x x x x   x x x x x x x x x  x 
United Kingdom                          x  
 
Note:  Traffic relations between EC Member States have been considered domestic and, hence, disregarded.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 113 
 
 
   
    
 
    
EURO-MED  
 
(Euro-Mediterranean Air Transport Agreement  
between the EU and Morocco) 
 
 
 
• The text of the agreement in English is available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/interna tional/pillars/common_avia tion_area/doc/morocco/
morocco_agr_en.pdf  
 
• An "information note" on the agreement prepared by the European Commission is available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/interna tional/pillars/common_avia tion_area/doc/morocco/
morocco_info_note_en.pdf  
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 114 EURO-MED  
Finland 
Estonia 
Latvia Estonia
Lithuania Sweden Finland 
Poland Denmark
United Kingdom 
Ireland 
NetherlandsGerman y Belgium 
Luxembour gCzech Re public 
Slovakia AustriaHungary Romania
Bulgaria 
Greece Slovenia
Italy 
Malta France 
Portugal 
Spain 
Morocco Cyprus  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 115EURO-MED 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Grant of rights clause Members WALI
(STD) (a) For air carriers of the Euro pean Community, the right to operate air services between: 
Points in the European Community;  one or more points in Morocco;  and points beyond provided that they are located in the coun tries of the 
"European Neighbourhood Policy" (i.e. Algeria, Armenia, the Pale stinian Authority, Azerbaijan, Bela rus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel,  Jordan, 
Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine).  
(b) For air carriers of Morocco, the right to operate air services between: 
Points in Morocco and one or more points in the European Community (Annex I)  
"Until the moment of the adoption of the decision [of the joint committee on regulatory harmonization] the agreed services and specified 
routes in Annex I shall not include the ri ght for air carriers of the European Community to uplift traffic in Morocco and disch arge traffic on 
points beyond and vice versa , and the right for Moroccan air carriers to uplift traffic at a point in the European Community to be discharged in 
another point of the European Community and vice versa .  However, all fifth freedom traffic rights granted by one of the bilateral agreements 
between Morocco and the Member States of th e European Community, listed in Annex II, can continue to be exercised insofar as th ere is no 
discrimination on the basis of nationality." (Annex IV) 
Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom EC 
Austria 
Belgium 
Cyprus Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia Finland 
France 
Germany Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal Slovak Republic 
Slovenia 
Spain Sweden 
United Kingdom 
 Morocco  - 
 10.6 
 12.6 
 4.6  12.8 
 15.3 
 3.0  12.4 
 9.4 
 16.4  10.8 
 11.2 
 13.3  13.0 
 5.4 
 8.0 
 16.5 
 9.3  14.8 
 18.9 
 15.1  8.8 
 3.9 
 8.3  9.0 
 12.0 
  10.5 12 December 
2006 Unlimited as of the entry into force Fifth freedom 
rights will be 
granted only 
after a decision 
of the Joint 
Committee 
attesting to the 
satisfactory 
implementation 
of the 
regulatory 
harmonisation 
programme No specific 
provision No specific 
provision Explicit exclusion  
(Article 2.2)  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 116 
EURO-MED 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions (continued) 
 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type 
  One month 
after the last 
ratification. Substantial 
ownership and 
effective 
control for 
Moroccan 
airlines 
(Article 4(a)); 
community of 
interest 
extended to 
European 
Economic Area 
States and 
Switzerland for 
EU carriers.  
Article 51 
envisages also 
the possibility 
of majority 
ownership by 
an air carrier of 
the other party Multidesignation Free 
determination 
(Annex I.5) Free pricing 
(Article 12) Cooperative 
arrangements  
(Article 5.7) 
 
Exchange of 
statistics 
(Article 13) 31 G 
 
                                                      
1 The text of Article 5 reads:  "The majority ownership or the e ffective control of an air carrier of Morocco by Member States o r their nationals, or of an air carrier of the 
European Community by Morocco or its nationals, shall be subject to a preliminary decision of the Joint Committee established b y this Agreement.  This  decision shall specify 
the conditions associated with the operation of the agreed servi ces under this Agreement and with the services between third co untries and the Contracting Parties.  The provisions 
of Article 22(9) of this Agreement shall not apply to this type of decision."  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 117 
EURO-MED 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services  Same re gime as for scheduled passenger services. 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services Article 1.3 and Annex I. 3 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services, plus no l imitation 
of fifth freedom rights to European Neighbourhood Policy countries. 
Subsidies Article 8 Detailed disciplines. 
Selling and marketing Article 9 Full right of es tablishment, currency conversion and transfer. 
Ground handling Article 9.3 Right to self-handle and to select among competing suppliers.  If 
there is no competition, services have to be available on an equal and adequate basis to all air carriers. 
User charges Article 11 National treatment. 
Wet leasing Annex I.7 Wet leasing from thir d parties must remain exceptional and is 
subject to approval by the Joint Committee. 
Regulatory cooperation Title II Extensive harmoniza tion programme, covering safety, security, air 
traffic management, Computer Reservation Systems and social aspects.  The satisfactory impl ementation of this programme 
conditions the granting of fifth freedom rights. 
 
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 118 EURO-MED 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties 
concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of 
the plurilateral 
 Article 26.1 "The provisions of this Agre ement supersede the relevant provisions of 
existing bilateral agreements betwee n Morocco and the Member States.  
However, existing traffic rights which originate from these bilateral agreements and which are not covered un der this Agreement can continue to 
be exercised, provided that there is  no discrimination between the Member 
States and their nationals." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral and third 
parties Article 25 "The Contracting Parties, although  recognising the bilateral nature of this 
Agreement, note that it lies within the scope of the Euro-Mediterranean 
partnership envisaged in the declaration of Barcelona of 28 November 1995.  
The Contracting Parties commit to condu ct a continuous dialogue to ensure 
the coherence of this Agreement with th e Barcelona process, and in particular 
with regard to the possibility of mutually agreeing amendments to take into 
account similar air transport agreements." 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral agreements 
 Articles 26.2 and 
26.3 "If the Contracting Parties become pa rties to a multilateral agreement, or 
endorse a decision adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation or 
another international organisation that addresses matters covered by this 
Agreement, they shall consult in the Joint Committee to determine whether 
this Agreement should be revised to ta ke into account such developments.  
 This Agreement shall be without prejudice to any decision by the two 
Contracting Parties to implement future recommendations that may be made 
by the ICAO.  The Contracting Parties sh all not cite this Agreement, or any 
part of it, as the basis for opposing consideration in the ICAO of alternative 
policies on any matter covered by this Agreement." 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 - -  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 119EURO-MED 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing  8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control 0/2=0 0/2=0 0/2=0 0/2=0 
Community of interest 4/2=2 3.5/2=1.75 7/2=3.5 7/2=3.5 
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 31 33.75 28.5 34  
Tentative Type G   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 120 EURO-MED 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total traffic 
of the plurilateral 
agreement Total international traffic 
of the member  Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of the 
member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Austria 15,888 0.2 4,277,955 0.4 
Belgium 297,468 3.4 4,068,049 7.3 
Cyprus 778 0.0 1,449,086 0.1 
Czech Republic 2,922 0.0 1,901,969 0.2 
Denmark 13,311 0.2 4,782,071 0.3 
Estonia 26 0.0 177,825 0.0 
Finland 3,062 0.0 1,709,871 0.2 
France 2,377,056 27.4 30,999,023 7.7 
Germany 308,612 3.6 32,576,283 0.9 
Greece 9,823 0.1 2,648,457 0.4 
Hungary 2,335 0.0 1,416,304 0.2 
Ireland 15,811 0.2 3,145,120 0.5 
Italy 348,416 4.0 15,521,233 2.2 
Latvia 120 0.0 346,697 0.0 
Lithuania 172 0.0 204,944 0.1 
Luxembourg 4,900 0.1 290,961 1.7 
Malta 4,593 0.1 307,792 1.5 
Morocco 4,331,571 50.0 5,532,719 78.3 
Netherlands 205,858 2.4 9,817,710 2.1 
Poland 4,312 0.0 1,954,639 0.2 
Portugal 59,984 0.7 2,784,060 2.2 
Slovak Republic 127 0.0 199,610 0.1 
Slovenia  366 0.0 362,649 0.1 
Spain 382,811 4.4 12,015,845 3.2 
Sweden 15,632 0.2 4,000,442 0.4 
United Kingdom 257,188 3.0 47,091,240 0.5  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 121EURO-MED 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
4,331,571 495,343,012 0.9 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 122 EURO-MED  
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 AT BE CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE GR HU IE IT LV LT LU MT MA NL PL PT SK SI ES SE UK 
Austria                                   x                 
Belgium                   x         
Cyprus                            
Czech Republic                            
Denmark                            
Estonia                            
France                            
Finland                   x         
Germany                   x         
Greece                            
Hungary                            
Ireland                            
Italy                   x         
Latvia                            
Lithuania                            
Luxembourg                            
Malta                   x         
Morocco x x      x x    x    x  x  x   x   
Netherlands                   x         
Poland                            
Portugal                   x         
Slovak Republic                            
Slovenia                             
Spain                   x         
Sweden                            
United Kingdom                            
 
Note:  Traffic relations between EC Member States have been considered domestic and, hence, disregarded. 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 123 
 
 
   
    
 
    
 
   
 
 
 
FORTALEZA 
 
(Fortaleza Agreement) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement (in Spanish only) is available at: 
http//:www.infolegInternet/ane xos/90000-94999/90688/norma.htm 
 
• A summary in English can be found at: 
http://www.ftaa-alca./org/Wgroups/W GSV/SAgreem/English/Sv_p231.asp 
 
• The Fortaleza agreement is briefly menti oned in a note presented by Argentina, Aruba, 
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, 
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pana ma, Paraguay, Peru, 
Uruguay and Venezuela at ICAO's Fifth Worldwide Air Transport Conference, titled 
"Background of Liberalization and Experiences in  the Latin American Region" and dated 
March 2003.  The note is available at: 
www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 124 FORTALEZA  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 125FORTALEZA 
 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom  7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
17 December 
1996 Unlimited 
(Article 4c) Subject to the authorization 
of the Member States 
concerned (Article 4.2) Subject to the 
authorization 
of the 
Member 
States 
concerned 
(Article 4.2) No specific 
provision No specific 
provision No specific 
provision 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative type Argentina 
Bolivia 
Brazil 
Chile 
Paraguay Peru 
Uruguay  8.8 
 9.5 
12.1 
18.9 
12.2 22.7 
11.2 
9 April 1999 National 
laws of the 
Member 
State entitled 
to withhold 
(Article 5.2 ) Multidesignation 
(Article 5.1) Predetermination 
(Annex I, point 6) Country of 
origin 
(Article 9) Exchange of 
statistics 
(Article 14) 13 O 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 126 FORTALEZA 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services Article 4 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
National treatment Article 7.3 "In the im plementation of the provisions of the 
present agreement, no Member State shall grant a treatment more favourable to its own companies 
than the one it grants to companies of other 
Member States." 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Articles 7.1 
and 7.2 "All provisions of air servi ces agreements concluded between Member States that are 
consistent with the present agreement shall be applied subsidiarily to this agreement.   
The provisions of the present agreement shall not constitute, under any circumstances, 
a restriction to what is granted in air serv ices agreements that were concluded among 
themselves by Member States." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
and third parties Article 7.4 "In the case where a mu ltilateral agreement includes in its provisions the treatment of 
air transport within the sub region, the aer onautical authorities of the Member States 
will consult with the aim of determining the degree in which the present agreement 
could be affected by the provisions of the multilateral agreement, and decide on the 
modification that may be necessa ry for the pres ent agreement." 
Provision to address overlaps w ith other plurilateral agreements 
 - The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Peru are also members of the Andean Pact. 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 15 "This agreement shall be opened to the adhesion of other States of South America 
whose application shall be exam ined by the Member State. 
The approbation of the application will require unanimity of the Member States." 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 127FORTALEZA 
Table 4 
Elements for an attempt of measurement of openness and of definition of a type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage     The number of points attributed should be reduced because the 
granting of fifth freedom is subject to authorization by other relevant 
members of the plurilateral.  It is, however, difficult to assess the level 
of restrictiveness of this condition. 
Capacity 
Pre-determination 0 0 0 0 
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination     
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin 3 2.5 2.5 2.5 
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business     The agreement does not specify a clear withholding criterion, nor does 
it explicitly adopt the "community of  interest" clause found in many 
plurilaterals.  It seems to cross-refer to national legislation and 
policies. 
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI 13 18 11 15.5  
Tentative Type O Because none of the ASA types iden tified uses "country of origin" as 
a criterion for pricing.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 128 FORTALEZA 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Argentina 3,656,799 35.2 7,058,601 51.8 
Bolivia 360,321 3.5 700,488 51.4 
Brazil 2,555,698 24.6 9,361,702 27.3 
Chile 1,801,292 17.3 3,403,699 52.9 
Paraguay 371,803 3.6 473,620 78.5 
Peru 594,359 5.7 2,908,830 20.4 
Uruguay 1,061,648 10.2 1,363,175 77.9 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
5,200,960 495,343,012 1.0 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 129 
FORTALEZA 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Paraguay Peru Uruguay 
Argentina  x x x x x x 
Bolivia x  x x x x x 
Brazil x x  x x x x 
Chile  x x x  x x x 
Paraguay x x x x   x 
Peru x x x x    
Uruguay x x x x x   
 
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 131 
 
 
   
    
 
 
 
IATA44 
 
(International Air Transport Agreement) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at:  
http://www.mcgill.ca/files/iasl/chicago1944c.pdf 
• The current legal status of the agreement is described at:  
http://www.icao.int/icao/en/leb/Transport.pdf   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 132 International Air Transport Agreement  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 133International Air Transport Agreement 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 6th freedom 5th freedom  
7th freedom 8th freedom 
9th freedom 
7 December 1944 Yes.  "The privilege to put 
down passengers, mail and cargo taken in the territory of 
the State whose nationality the 
aircraft possesses". (Article I, section 1-3). 
However "[t]he undertaking of 
each contracting State relates only to through services on a route constituting a reasonably 
direct line out from and back to 
the homeland of the State whose nationality the aircraft possesses." 
(Article I, section 1). 
In addition, Article I, section 5 allows each Contracting State to designate the route to be 
followed within its territory by 
any international air service and the airport which any such 
service may use. Yes.  "The privilege to take on 
passengers, mail and cargo destined for the territory of the 
State whose nationality the 
aircraft possesses." (Article I, section 1-4). 
However, "[t]he undertaking of 
each contracting State relates only to through services on a route constituting a reasonably direct 
line out from and back to the 
homeland of the State whose nationality the aircraft possesses." 
(Article I, section 1). 
In addition, Article I, section 5 
allows each Contracting State to designate the route to be followed within its territory by any 
international air service and the 
airport which any such service may use. No specific provision Yes.  "The privilege to take on passengers, mail 
and cargo destined for the territory of any other Contracting State and the privilege to put down 
passengers, mail and cargo coming from any 
such territory." (Article I, section 1-5). 
However, "[t]he undertaking of each 
contracting State relates only to through services on a route constituting a reasonably direct line out from and back to the homeland 
of the State whose nationality the aircraft 
possesses." (Article I, section 1). In addition, Article I, section 5 allows each 
Contracting State to designate the route to be 
followed within its territory by any international air service and the airport which any such service may use. Partial.  The agreement 
contemplates the possibility of refusing cabotage rights, which 
implies, a contrario , a refutable 
presumption of freedom of cabotage 
(Article I, section 4)
1 
Date of entry into 
force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative ALI (STD) Tent
ative 
type Aruba Bolivia Burundi 
Costa Rica 
El Salvador Ethiopia 
Greece 
Honduras Liberia Netherlands 
Paraguay 
Turkey  34.0 
 9.5  5.4 
 22.0 
 33.7  10.4 
 10.8 
 32.7  13.4  14.8 
 12.2 
 11.5 
8 February 
1945 Substantial ownership and 
effective control (Article I, section 6) Implicit multidesignation, as 
rights are granted to aircraft of a certain nationality without 
reference to a limited number of 
airlines 
(Article I) Implicit free 
determination, since only fifth and seventh freedom 
rights, routes and airports 
served can be limited.  (Article I, sections 4 and 
5–1). 
In the case of "through services", the agreement contains 
also a self-restraint clause 
in Article III
2 Implicit free pricing, as 
the agreement does not contain the word 
"tariff". No exchange of 
statistics.   
No clause 
specifically allowing for 
cooperative 
arrangements. 33 G 
                                                      
1 The clause in Article III reads:  "Each contracting State shall have the right to refuse permission to the aircraft of other c ontracting States to take on in its territory 
passengers, mail and cargo carried for remuneration or hire and de stined for another point within its territory.  Each contract ing State undertakes not to enter into any 
arrangements which specifically grant any such privilege on an exclusive basis to any other State or an airline of any other St ate, and not to obtain any such exclusive privilege 
from any other State. 
2 Article I, section 4 reads:  "Each contracting State undertakes  that in the establishment and operation of its "through servic es" new consideration shall be given to the 
interests of the other contracting States so as not to interfere unduly with their regional services or to hamper the developme nt of their through services."  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 134 International Air Transport Agreement 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services Article 1 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Airport charges Article 1, 
section 5.2 National treatment 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties 
concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral 
 Article 2, 
sections 1 
and 2 "1.  The contracting States accept this Agreemen t as abrogating all obligations and understandings 
between them which are inconsistent with its terms, and undertake not to enter into any such obligations 
and understandings.  A contracting State which has undertaken any other obligations inconsistent with 
this Agreement shall take immediate steps to procure its release from th e obligations.  If an airline of 
any contracting State has entered into any such in consistent obligations, the State of which it is a 
national shall use its best efforts to secure their termination forthwith and shall in any event cause them 
to be terminated as soon as such action can lawf ully be taken after the coming into force of this 
Agreement. 
2.  Subject to the provisions of  the preceding section, any contrac ting State may make arrangements 
concerning international air services not inconsistent  with this Agreement.  Any such arrangement shall 
be forthwith registered with the Council, wh ich shall make it public a soon as possible." 
 
Prevalence over past agreements, and undertaking from members not to enter into new agreements. 
Co existence with other agreements not deemed inconsistent. 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members 
of the plurilateral and third parties Article 2, 
sections 1 
and 2 It is unclear if the provisions above also apply to  agreements with third parties.  Past and future 
agreements inconsistent with IATA44 are ruled out without any further indications. 
Provision to address overlaps with other 
plurilateral agreements 
 - All the members of IATA44 (ex cept Aruba) are also members of one or several other plurilateral 
agreements.  
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 8 Open to all ICAO Contracting States. 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 135International Air Transport Agreement 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom 6 5 5 5.5 
Cabotage     The cabotage provisions (see footnote 2 above) neither completely 
exclude nor completely include cabotage.  In light of this uncertainty, 
the Secretariat has decided not to attribute any points for cabotage. 
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control 0 0 0 0 
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI 33 35.5 28.5 34.5  
Tentative Type G   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 136 
International Air Transport Agreement 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Aruba 91,707 3.7 1,648,062 5.6 
Bolivia 50,986 2.0 700,488 7.3 
Burundi 4,897 0.2 106,611 4.6 
Costa Rica 230,119 9.2 3,161,361 7.3 
El Salvador 174,992 7.0 1,603,963 10.9 
Ethiopia 23,443 0.9 177,825 13.2 
Greece 241,083 9.7 2,648,457 9.1 
Honduras 146,240 5.9 1,090,025 13.4 
Liberia 555 0.0 124,572 0.4 
Netherlands 696,992 27.9 9,817,710 7.1 
Paraguay 45,880 1.8 473,620 9.7 
Turkey  787,380 31.6 13,526,056 5.8 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
1,247,137 495,343,012 0.3 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 137International Air Transport Agreement 
 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Aruba Bolivia Burundi Costa Rica El 
Salvador Ethiopia Greece Honduras Liberia Netherlands Paraguay Turkey 
Aruba             x   
Bolivia           x   
Burundi       x       
Costa Rica     x   x  x   
El Salvador    x    x     
Ethiopia   x       x  x 
Greece            x 
Honduras    x x        
Liberia              
Netherlands x   x  x      x 
Paraguay  x           
Turkey       x x   x   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 139 
 
 
   
 
 
   
IMT-GT 
 
(Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle) 
 
 
 
• The text of the agreement is available on request from the Secretariat.   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 140 IMT-GT  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 141IMT-GT 
 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
  10 July 1995 "Full"... "unless otherwise 
predetermined in the current 
bilateral air services agreements" 
(Article 6.2.1) No specific 
provision No specific 
provision No specific 
provision Explicitly excluded 
(Article 6.2.2) 
Indonesia 12.9 
Malaysia 10.7 
Thailand  9.9 Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative ALI 
(STD) Tentative type 
  10 July 1995 No specific 
provision Multidesignation, 
but limited to two 
airlines 
(Article 7) Free determination 
"unless otherwise 
predetermined in 
the current bilateral 
air services 
agreements" 
(Article 6.2.1) No specific 
provision No specific 
provision Cannot be 
computed in the 
absence of most 
of the 
QUASAR 
features Cannot be 
determined in 
the absence of 
most of the 
QUASAR 
features 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 142 IMT-GT 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 
6.2.1 Same regime as for passenger scheduled services 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services Article 
6.2.1 Same regime as for passenger scheduled services 
 
  
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Preamble 
and Article 
6.2.1 "Without prejudice to existing agreements..." 
No restriction on capacity, frequency and aircraft 
type "unless otherwise predetermined in the current bilateral air services agreements" 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties Preamble "Without prejudice to existing agreements..." 
Provision to address overlaps w ith other plurilateral agreements 
 - Indonesia and Malaysia are also members of the 
BIMP-EAGA 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 - - 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 143IMT-GT 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type  
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom     
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other     "Free determination" has to be read in light of Article 6.2.1, which 
stipulates "....without any restric tions on capacity, frequency and 
aircraft type unless otherwise predetermined in the current bilateral 
air services agreements" . 
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5 Limited to two airlines (Article 7) 
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI     Cannot be computed in the absence of most of the QUASAR 
features 
Tentative Type - Cannot be determined in the absence of most of the QUASAR 
features  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 144 IMT-GT 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Indonesia 2,750,249 33.3 11,681,464 23.5 
Malaysia 3,741,485 45.3 14,188,052 26.4 
Thailand 1,773,696 21.5 25,000,104 7.1 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
4,132,715 495,343,012 0.8 
 
  
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Indonesia Malaysia Thailand 
Indonesia  x x 
Malaysia x  x 
Thailand x x  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 145 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
MALIAT 
 
(Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of  
International Air Transportation) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in Englis h can be found, for instance, at: 
http://www.maliat.govt.nz/agreement/index.shtml 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 146 MALIAT  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 147MALIAT 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
1 May 2001 Unlimited  
(Article 2 (c)(i))  Unlimited  
(Article 2 
(c)(i))  No specific 
provision Via an optional protocol signed only by: 
Brunei (21/12/01); New Zealand (21/12/01); 
Singapore (21/12/01); 
Chile (10/12/03); Cook Islands (23/07/06)  
 
Date of entry into 
force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type Brunei 
Chile 
Cook Islands 
New Zealand 
Samoa Singapore 
Tonga  
United States   16.7 
 18.9 
 11.0 
 13.4 
 8.8  13.0 
 9.4 
 22.6 
Brunei: 21/12/01; 
Chile: 09/04/02; 
Cook Islands: 08/03/05; 
New Zealand: 21/12/01; 
Samoa: 09/11/02; 
Singapore: 21/12/01; 
Tonga: 19/09/03; 
United States: 21/12/01 Substantial 
ownership 
and effective 
control 
(Article 
3.2.1)
1 Multidesignation Free 
determination Free pricing  
(Article 12) Cooperative 
arrangement  
(Article 8.c) 30  
(42 with the 
optional 
protocol) G 
                                                      
1  See also compilation, page 180, paragraph 201.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 148 
MALIAT 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Other salient features Provision Description or text 
Non scheduled passenger services Article 2(c) Sa me regime as for scheduled passenger services. 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services Article 2(c)(ii) Same regime as for scheduled passenger services plus seventh 
freedom. 
Selling and marketing Article 8 Full right of es tablishment, currency conversion and transfer. 
Ground handling Article 8.2(b) Right to self-handle and to choose among competing 
providers.  If no competition exists, services shall be available 
on an equal basis to all airlines.  
User charges Article 10.1 MFN and national treatment.  
Competition Article 11 Detailed disciplines.  
Computer Reservation Systems Article  11.6 Non discriminatory access.  
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 149MALIAT 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third partie s Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Article 15 "Upon entry into fo rce of this Agreement between 
one Party and any other Party, any bilateral air 
transport agreement existing between them at the time of such entry into force shall be suspended and 
shall remain suspended for so long as this 
Agreement shall remain in force between them." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps w ith other plurilateral agreements 
 - The Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga are also 
members of the PIASA.  
Accession provisions for third parties 
 Article 20.4 
and Annex "After this Agreement has entered into force in 
accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article, any 
State which is party to the aviation security 
conventions listed in Article 7, paragraph 1 may 
accede to this Agreement by deposit of an instrument 
of accession with the Depositary." 
Plus a special regime fo r the accession of APEC 
Member Economies described in the Annex.   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 150 MALIAT 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
(7th freedom) (6) (5) (5) (5.5) 
(Cabotage) (6) (5) (5) (5.5) The points attributable to the optional protocol appear in brackets.  
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control 0 0 0 0 
Community of interest     
Principal place of business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 30 
(42) 33 
(43) 26 
(36) 31.5 
(41.5) The tentative ALIs inclusive of the points attributable to the optional 
protocol appear in brackets.  
Tentative Type G  
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 151MALIAT 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Brunei 141,247 2.8 556,126 25.4 
Chile 485,445 9.7 3,403,699 14.3 
Cook Islands 142,829 2.9 189,129 75.5 
New Zealand 1,201,012 24.1 7,604,593 15.8 
Samoa 246,202 4.9 313,495 78.5 
Singapore 961,615 19.3 22,567,176 4.3 
Tonga  143,801 2.9 194,236 74.0 
United States 1,657,797 33.3 139,003,446 1.2 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
2,489,974 495,343,012 0.5 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 152 MALIAT 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Brunei Chile Cook 
Islands New 
Zealand Samoa Singapore Tonga United 
States 
Brunei    x  x   
Chile    x    x 
Cook Islands    x    x 
New Zealand x x x  x x x x 
Samoa    x   x x 
Singapore x   x    x 
Tonga     x x   x 
United States  x x x x x x  
 
  
 
    
 
     
 
    
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 153 
 
 
   
 
 
   
US-EU 
 
(First-Phase US-EU Air Transport Agreement) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at: 
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/othr/2007/81516.htm;  and 
 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/inter national/pillars/global_ partners/us_en.htm 
 
• Summaries of the agreement are available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air_portal/internati onal/pillars/global_partne rs/us_en.htm;  and 
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/rm/2007/81400.htm   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 154 US-EU 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 155US-EU 
Table 1 
QUASAR coded provisions 
Grant of rights clause Members WALI 
(STD)  "1.  Each Party grants to the other Party the following rights for the conduct of international air transportation by the airli nes of the other Party:  
a. the right to fly across its territory without landing; 
b. the right to make stops in its territory for non-traffic purposes; c. the right to perform international air transportation between points on the following routes: i. for airlines of the United States (hereinafter "US airlines") , from points behind the United States via the United States an d intermediate points to any 
point or points in any Member State or States and beyond;  a nd for all-cargo service, between any Member State and any point or  points (including in any 
other Member States); ii.  for airlines of the European Community and its Member Stat es (hereinafter "Community airlines"), from points behind the me mber States via the 
Member States and intermediate points to any point or points in the United States and beyond;  for all-cargo service, between t he United States and any 
point or points;  and, for combination services, between any point or points in the United States and any point or points in an y member of the European 
Common Aviation Area (hereinafter the ECAA) as of the date of signature of this Agreement."   (Article 3) 
Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th 
freedom 9th freedom 
30 April 2007 Unlimited 
(Article 3-1-c) Unlimited 
(Article 3-1-c) - For EU carriers, 
between the United 
States and ECAA 
members that are not 
EU Member States - Explicitly 
excluded  
(Article 
3-6-a) 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other QUASAR Tentative 
ALI 
(STD) Tentative type EC 
Austria 
Belgium Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom USA  - 
 10.6 
 12.6  4.6  12.8  15.3  3.0  12.4  9.4  16.4  10.8  11.2  13.3  13.0  5.4  8.0 
 16.5 
 9.3  14.8  18.9  15.1  8.8  3.9  8.3  9.0  12.0   22.6  30 March 
2008 
(provisional 
application)
1 Substantial 
ownership and 
effective control, 
with a "Community 
clause"2 on the EU 
side (Article 4-a-b) Multidesignation 
(Article 3-1-c) Free 
determination 
(Article 3-4) Free pricing 
(Article 13)  Cooperative 
arrangements 
(including 
multimodal)  
(Article 10-7) 32 G 
                                                      
1 See point 4a) of the Conclusion of the 2791st Council of EU Transport Ministers, held on 22 March 2007, available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/a ir_portal/international/pillars/global_partners/doc/us/council_conclusions_22_03_2007.pdf 
2 "Provided [that] ... for a Community airline substantial ownershi p and effective control of that airline are vested in a Membe r State or States, nationa ls of such a State or 
States, or both, and the airline is license d as a Community airline and has its prin cipal place of business in the territory of  the European Community".  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 156 
US-EU 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services Article 3-1 Same regime as fo r scheduled passenger services. 
All cargo services Article 3-1 Same re gime as for scheduled passenger services , plus full seventh freedom rights. 
Ground handling Article 10-2 Self-handli ng and third party handling allowed. 
Selling and marketing Articles 10-1, 10-4 Full right of  establishment, currency conversion and transfer. 
Franchising and branding Article 10-8 and 
Annex V "The airlines of each Party shall be entitled to enter into franchising or branding arrangements with companies, including 
airlines, of either Party or third countries, provided that the airlines hold the appropriate au thority and meet the conditions  
prescribed under the laws and regulations normally applied by the Parties to such arrangements." 
National ownership,  investment and 
control regime  Articles 6, 18(f) and 
(g) and Annex IV Given that the ownership provisions are considered by all observers as a major element of the agreement, they have been 
reproduced in extenso in Box 1 at the end of the US-EU profile. 
Wet leasing Article 10-9 "9.  The airlines of each Party may en ter into arrangements for the provi sion of aircraft with crew fo r international air 
transportation with:  (a) any airline or air lines of the Parties;  and (b) any airlin e or airlines of a third country, provided  that all 
participants in such arrangements hold the appropriate aut hority and meet the conditions prescribed under the laws and 
regulations normally applied by the Parties to such arrangements.  Neither Party shall require an airline of either Party 
providing the aircraft to hold traffic rights under this Agreem ent for the routes on which the aircraft will be operated." 
User charges Article 12 MFN and national treatment. 
Government subsidies and support Article 14 Detailed disciplines. 
Computer Reservation Systems Article 17 National treatment for displays and ownership regime. 
Competition Annex II Detailed institutional cooperation provisions. 
US Government procured 
transportation 
("Fly America") Annex III "Community airlines shall have th e right to transport passengers and cargo on scheduled and charter flights for which  a US 
Government civilian department, ag ency, or instrumentality:  (1) obtains the transportation for itself or in carrying out an 
arrangement under which payment is made by the Government or payment is made  from amounts provided for the use of the 
Government;  or (2) provides the transportation to or for a fo reign country or international or other organization without 
reimbursement, and that transportation is (a) between any point in the United States and any point in a Member State, except – 
with respect to passengers only – between points for which there is  a city-pair contract fare in effect, or (b) between any two  
points outside the United States. 
This paragraph shall not apply to transportation obtained or f unded by the Secretary of Defence or The Secretary of a military 
department." 
Second phase negotiations Article 21 To be started 60 days after the provisional appl ication of the agreement and including, inter alia , four market access issues:  
further liberalisation of traffic rights, additional foreign i nvestment opportunities, further access to government-financed ai r 
transportation and provision of airc raft with crew.  Article 21 also contains a "snap back" provision (paragraph 3), which read s:  
"The parties shall review their progress to wards a second stage agreement no later th an 18 months after the date when the 
negotiations are due to start in accordance with paragraph 1.  If no second stage agreement ha s been reached by the Parties 
within twelve months of the st art of the review, each Party reserves the right thereafter to suspend rights specified in this 
Agreement.  Such suspension shall take ef fect no sooner than the start of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) 
traffic season that commences no less than twelve months  after the date on which notice of suspension is given."  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 157US-EU 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Articles 
22-1 and 2 During the period of provisional application: 
suspension of the bilateral agreements. 
As of the entry into for ce of the agreement, the 
agreement shall supersede bilateral agreements. 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral and third parties Article 22-3 "If the Parties become parties to a multilateral 
agreement, or endorse a decision adopted by the 
International Civil Aviation Organization or 
another international organization, that addresses 
matters covered by this Agreement, they shall consult in the Joint Committee to determine 
whether this Agreement should be revised to take 
into account such developments." 
Provision to address overlaps w ith other plurilateral agreements 
 - - 
Accession provisions for third parties 
 - -  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 158 US-EU 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom (6) (5) (5) (5.5) 
Cabotage     The agreement grants seventh freedom rights only  to EC airlines operating between the US 
and ECAA members which are not EC Member St ates.  In view of th e limited character of 
this provision, points attributable to seventh freedom have been put between brackets, as was done for the optional protocol on seventh, eights and ninth freedom of the MALIAT. 
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing 8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership and 
effective control 0/2=0 0/2=0 0/2=0 0/2=0 
Community of interest 4/2=2 3.5/2=1.75 7/2=3.5 3.5/2=1.75 
Principal place of business     The agreement contains different withholding clauses:  "substantial ownership and effective 
control" for the United States and "community of  interest" for the EC.  The points attributed 
to each clause have been averaged and the agr eement is hence attributed:  2 points for the 
STD system, 1.75 for 5th+, 3.5 for OWN+ and 1.75 for DES+  
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 32 
(38) 34.75 
(39.75) 29 
(34.5) 33.25 
(38.75)  
Tentative Type G  
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 159US-EU 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax) (%) 
Austria 549,560 0.7 4,277,955 12.8 
Belgium 844,997 1.0 4,068,049 20.8 
Cyprus 42,174 0.1 1,449,086 2.9 
Czech Republic 253,660 0.3 1,901,969 13.3 
Denmark 751,034 0.9 4,782,071 15.7 
Estonia 19,163 0.0 177,825 10.8 
Finland 352,096 0.4 1,709,871 20.6 
France 4,927,858 5.9 30,999,023 15.9 
Germany 7,229,495 8.6 32,576,283 22.2 
Greece 456,260 0.5 2,648,457 17.2 
Hungary 192,772 0.2 1,416,304 13.6 
Ireland 1,960,340 2.3 3,145,120 62.3 
Italy 3,245,506 3.9 15,521,233 20.9 
Latvia 43,092 0.1 346,697 12.4 
Lithuania 35,324 0.0 204,944 17.2 
Luxembourg 64,134 0.1 290,961 22.0 
Malta 13,808 0.0 307,792 4.5 
Netherlands 2,553,038 3.0 9,817,710 26.0 
Poland 682,807 0.8 1,954,639 34.9 
Portugal 327,232 0.4 2,784,060 11.8 
Slovakia 16,524 0.0 199,610 8.3 
Slovenia 38,826 0.0 362,649 10.7 
Spain 1,860,826 2.2 12,015,845 15.5 
Sweden 761,772 0.9 4,000,442 19.0 
United Kingdom 14,646,892 17.5 47,091,240 31.1 
USA  41,869,190 50.0 139,003,446 30.1 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 160 US-EU 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
41,869,190 495,343,012 8.5 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 161US-EU 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 AT BE CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE GR HU IE IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT SK SI ES SE UK USA 
Austria                          x 
Belgium                          x 
Cyprus                           
Czech Republic                          x 
Denmark                          x 
Estonia                           
Finland                          x 
France                          x 
Germany                          x 
Greece                          x 
Hungary                          x 
Ireland                          x 
Italy                          x 
Latvia                          x 
Lithuania                           
Luxembourg                           
Malta                           
Netherlands                          x 
Poland                          x 
Portugal                          x 
Slovakia                           
Slovenia                           
Spain                          x 
Sweden                          x 
United Kingdom                          x 
USA  x x  x x  x x x x x x x x    x x x   x x x  
 
Note:  Traffic relations between EC Member States have  been considered domestic and, hence, disregarded.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 162 US-EU 
Box 1 
Annex IV of the US-EU Agreement 
Concerning Additional Matters Related to Ownership, Investment and Control 
 
Article 1  
Ownership of Airlines of a Party   
1. Ownership by nationals of a Member State or States of the eq uity of a US airline shall be permitted, subject to two limitati ons.  First, ownership by all foreign nationals of 
more than 25 percent of a corporation's voting equity is prohibited.  Second, actual control of a US airline by foreign nationa ls is also prohibited.  Subject to the overall 25 
percent limitation on foreign ownership of voting equity:  
a. ownership by nationals of a Member State or States of:  (1) as much as 25 percent of the voting equity; and/or  
(2) as much as 49.9 percent of the total equity of a US airlin e shall not be deemed, of itself, to constitute control of that a irline; and  
b. ownership by nationals of a Member State or States of 50 percent or more of the total equity of a US airline shall not be pr esumed to constitute control of that airline . Such 
ownership shall be considered on a case-by-case basis.  
2. Ownership by US nationals of a Community airline shall be pe rmitted subject to two limitations.  First, the airline must be majority owned by Member States and/or by 
nationals of Member States. Second, the airline must be effectively controlled by  such states and/or such nationals.  
3. For the purposes of paragraph (b) of Article 4 and subparagraph 1(b) of Article 5 of this Agreement, a member of the ECAA as  of the date of signature of this Agreement and 
citizens of such a member shall be treated as a Member State and its nationals, respectively.  The Joint Committee may decide t hat this provision shall apply to new members of 
the ECAA and their citizens.  4. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the European Community and its Me mber States reserves the right to limit investments by US nati onals in the voting equity of a Community 
airline made after the signature of this Agreement to a level equivalent to that allowed by the United States for foreign natio nals in US airlines, provided that the exercise of that 
right is consistent with international law.   
Article 2  
Ownership and Control of Third-Country Airlines   
1. Neither Party shall exercise any available rights under air services arrangeme nts with a third country to refuse, revoke, su spend or limit authorizations or permissions for any 
airlines of that third country on the gro unds that substantial ownership of that air line is vested in the other Party, its nati onals, or both .  
2. The United States shall not exercise any available rights under air services arrang ements to refuse, revoke, suspend or limi t authorizations or permissions for any airline of the 
Principality of Liechtenstein, the Swiss Confed eration, a member of the ECAA as of the da te of signature of this Agreement, or any country in Africa that is implementing an 
Open-Skies air services agreement with the United States as of the date of signature of this Agreement, on the grounds that eff ective control of that airlin e is vested in a Member 
State or States, nationals of such  a state or states, or both.  
3. The Joint Committee may decide that neither  Party shall exercise the rights referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article with respect to airlines of a sp ecific country or countries.
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 163US-EU 
Box 1 
Annex IV of the US-EU Agreement (continued) 
Article 3  Control of Airlines  
 
1. The rules applicable in the European Community on ownership and control of Community air carri ers are currently laid down in  Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No . 
2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers. Under this Regulation, responsibility for granting an Operating Licence t o a Community air carrier lies with the Member 
States . Member States apply Regula tion 2407/92 in accordance with their na tional regulations and procedures.  
2. The rules applicable in the United States are currently laid down in Sections 40102(a)(2), 41102 and 41103 of Title 49 of th e United States Code (USC), which require that 
licenses for a US "air carrier" issued by th e Department of Transportation, whether a certificate, an exemp tion, or commuter li cense, to engage in "air transportation" as a 
common carrier, be held only by citizens of the United States as defined in 49 US C §40102(a)(15). That section requires that t he president and two-thirds of the board of 
directors and other managing officers of a corporation be US citizens, that at least 75 percent of the voting stock be owned by  US citizens, and that the corporation be under the 
actual control of U .S. citizens. The requirement must be met initia lly by an applicant, and continue to be met by a US airline  holding a license.  
3. The practice followed by each Party in applying its laws and regulations is set out in the Appendix to this Annex.  
 
Appendix to Annex IV  
 
1. In the United States, citizenship determinations are necessary  for all US air carrier applicants for a certificate, exemptio n, or commuter license . An initial application for a 
license is filed in a formal public docket, and processed "on th e record" with filings by the applicant and any other intereste d parties. The Department of Transportation renders a 
final decision by an Order based on the formal public record of the case, including documents for which confidential treatment has been granted. A "continuing fitness" case may 
be handled informally by the Department, or may be set for docketed procedures similar to those used for initial applications .   
2. The Department's determinations evolve through a variety of precedents, which reflect, among other things, the changing natu re of financial markets and investment structures 
and DOT's willingness to consider new approaches to foreign investment that are consistent with US law. DOT works with applican ts to consider proposed forms of investment 
and to assist them in fashioning transactions that fully comply with US citizenship law, and applicants regularly consult with DOT staff before finalizing their applications. At 
any time before a formal proceeding has begun, DOT staff may disc uss questions concerning citizensh ip issues or other aspects o f the proposed transaction and offer 
suggestions, where appropriate, as to altern atives that would allow a proposed transac tion to meet US citizenship requirements.   
3. In making both its initial and continuing citizenship and fitness determinations, DOT considers the totality of circumstance s affecting the US airline, and Department 
precedents have permitted consideration of the nature of the av iation relationship between the United States and the homeland(s ) of any foreign investors. In the context of this 
Agreement, DOT would treat investments from EU nationals at least as favourably as it would treat investments from nationals of  bilateral or multilateral Open-Skies partners .  
4. In the European Union, paragraph 5 of Article 4 of Regulation 2407/92 provides that the European Commission, acting at the r equest of a Member State, shall examine 
compliance with the requirements of Article 4 and take a decision if necessary . In taking such decisions the Commission must e nsure compliance with the procedural rights 
recognized as general principles of Community law by the European  Court of Justice, including the right of interested parties t o be heard in a timely manner.  
5. When applying its laws and regulations, each Party shall ensure  that any transaction involving investment in one of its airl ines by nationals of the other Party is afforded fair 
and expeditious consideration.
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 165 
 
 
   
 
  
 
  
YAMOUSSOUKRO 
 
(Yamoussoukro II Ministerial Decision) 
 
  
• The text of the Ministerial Decision in English is available at: 
http://www.uneca.org/itca/yamoussoukro/Yamoussoukro%20Decision-Engl.doc 
 
• Numerous documents on the difficulties and de lays of implementation of the Ministerial 
Decision, produced by the Economic Commission for Africa, be found at: 
http://www.uneca.org/itca/yamoussoukro/ 
 
• A note presented by African States at ICAO's Fifth Worldwide Air Transport Conference, 
titled "Background to Experiences of Liberaliza tion in Africa" and dated March 2003, is 
available at: www.icao.int/cgi/goto_ m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 166 YAMOUSSOUKRO 
.  Tunisia  
Algeria  
Libya Egypt  
Nige r Mali 
Chad  
Sudan  Nigeria Mauritania 
Ethiopia 
Somalia  Nigeria 
Central African Republic  Cameroon  
Equatorial Guinea 
Sao Tome and Principe 
Congo  Congo D.R.  
Angola 
Zambia  Rwanda  
Tanzania Burundi  Uganda 
Kenya Sene gal 
Gambia 
Guinea Bissau 
Guinea 
Sierra Leone 
Liberia Cote d'Ivoire  Benin Ghana  Djibouti  Entrea 
Seychelles  
Mauritius  Madagasca r Comoros  
Malawi  
Namibia  Botswana  Zimbabwe  Mozambique 
Swaziland 
South Africa  
Lesotho  erde  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 167YAMOUSSOUKRO 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
Members WALI 
(STD) Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th 
freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
14 November 
1999 "Free exercise of the rights of the first, second, third, fourth and 
fifth freedoms of the air on  scheduled and non-scheduled 
passenger cargo and/or mail flights performed by an Eligible 
Airline to/from their respective territories." 
(Article 3) 
Reservations possible fo r the first two years. 
(Article 10) 
Regarding fifth freedom, "a st ate party may... limit its 
commitment in respect to fifth freedom rights for a period no 
longer than two years to the following: 
(a) grant and receive unrestric ted fifth freedom on sectors 
where, for economic reasons, there are no third and fourth 
freedom operators; and 
(b) grant and receive a minimum of 20 percent of the capacity 
offered on the route concerned during any given period of time 
in respect to any sector where third and fourth freedom 
operators exist." 
(Article 3.2) No specific provisions 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other QUASARTentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type Algeria 
Angola 
Benin 
Botswana 
Burkina 
 Faso Burundi 
Cameroon 
Cape Verde 
Central Afr. 
 Rep. 
Chad 
Comoros 
Congo DR 
Côte 
 d'Ivoire 
Djibouti 
Egypt 
Equatorial 
 Guinea 
Eritrea 
Ethiopia 
Gabon 
Gambia 
Ghana 
Guinea 
Guinea 
 Bissau 
Kenya 
Lesotho  6.1 
 1.0 
 3.9 
 6.5 
 1.9 
  5.4 
 9.8 
 16.4 
 8.2 
 
 9.4 
 6.0 
 8.6 
 7.4 
 
10.0 
 9.5 
 
 8.0 
 - 
10.4 
 3.1 
 9.0 
 9.9 
 8.0 
 0.0 
 
 5.2 
 0.1 Liberia 
Libya 
Madagascar 
Malawi 
Mali 
Mauritania Mauritius 
Mozambique 
Namibia 
Niger 
Nigeria 
Rwanda 
Sao Tome & 
 Principe 
Senegal 
Seychelles 
Sierra Leone 
Somalia 
South Africa 
Sudan 
Swaziland 
Tanzania 
Togo 
Tunisia 
Uganda 
Zambia 
Zimbabwe  13.4 
10.3 
 7.7 
 7.8 
 6.1 
 8.2  6.2 
 8.8 
10.9 
 4.9 
 7.5 
 6.2 
 4.0 
 
 8.1 
 3.7 
12.2 
 6.6 
 9.9 10.0 
14.0 
 5.8 
 5.1 
 9.9 
 6.7 
 9.6 
 7.5 
12 August 
2000 Community of interest 
(Article 6.9(g)) Multidesignation 
("at least one"). 
Possibility to 
designate an 
airline of another 
party and a 
multinational 
airline 
(Article 6) Free 
determination 
(Article 5) 
 Free pricing. 
However, 
filing is 
required for 
increases 
(Article 4) 
Reservations 
possible for 
the first two 
years 
(Article 10)Cooperative 
arrangements 
(Article 11.3)  34 G  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 168 YAMOUSSOUKRO 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled air cargo services Articles 2 and 3 Same  regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Non-scheduled services of passenger cargo and mail Articles 2 and 3 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Selling and marketing Article 11.1 Full right of establishment, currency conversion 
and transfer 
 
  
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Article 2 "This Decision has precedence over any 
multilateral or bilateral agreements on air services 
between State Parties whic h are incompatible with 
this Decision.  The provisions which are included in these agreements and which are not 
incompatible with this Decision remain valid and 
are supplementary to the Decision." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with  other plurilateral agreements  
 - All the Yamoussoukro members (except 
Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe and South Africa) are also 
members of another plurilateral agreement 
(WAEMU, CEMAC, Banjul, ACAC or COMESA).  Comoros, Egypt, Djibouti and Sudan 
are members of two other plurilateral agreements, 
namely COMESA and ACAC. 
Accession provisions for third parties  - - 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 169YAMOUSSOUKRO 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type  
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing  8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5 While creating a "monitoring body", the agreement does not 
prescribe an examination of statistics. 
Tentative ALI 34 36.5 33 34  
Tentative Type G  
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 170 YAMOUSSOUKRO 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of the 
member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Algeria 222,944 1.2 4,083,938 5.5 
Angola 197,771 1.0 495,437 39.9 
Benin 450,248 2.4 672,974 66.9 
Botswana 276,233 1.5 313,343 88.2 
Burkina Faso 232,057 1.2 356,615 65.1 
Burundi 94,935 0.5 106,611 89.0 
Cameroon 562,863 3.0 950,434 59.2 
Cape Verde 34,593 0.2 316,256 10.9 
Central African Republic 64,976 0.3 102,365 63.5 
Chad 125,075 0.7 196,983 63.5 
Comoros 128,203 0.7 463,065 27.7 
Congo Dem. Rep. 216,926 1.1 380,052 57.1 
Côte d'Ivoire 1,078,835 5.7 1,479,501 72.9 
Djibouti 126,921 0.7 298,326 42.5 
Egypt 589,874 3.1 8,367,133 7.0 
Equatorial Guinea 145,084 0.8 230,232 63.0 
Eritrea 50,606 0.3 196,512 25.8 
Ethiopia 324,847 1.7 901,033 36.1 
Gabon 353,746 1.9 596,909 59.3 
Gambia 248,450 1.3 299,625 82.9 
Ghana 665,476 3.5 1,214,241 54.8 
Guinea 256,595 1.4 359,191 71.4 
Guinea Bissau 37,744 0.2 68,330 55.2 
Kenya 1,285,849 6.8 2,646,410 48.6 
Lesotho 36,405 0.2 38,419 94.8 
Liberia 106,167 0.6 124,572 85.2 
Libya 481,296 2.5 1,415,448 34.0 
Madagascar 133,065 0.7 495,468 26.9 
Malawi 209,103 1.1 279,114 74.9 
Mali 592,871 3.1 815,999 72.7  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 171YAMOUSSOUKRO 
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual member s of the plurilateral agreement (continued)  
 
Members Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral agreement 
within total international traffic of 
the member 
Mauritania 88,769 0.5 245,745 36.1 
Mauritius 296,762 1.6 1,875,972 15.8 
Mozambique 276,546 1.5 352,760 78.4 
Namibia 360,495 1.9 564,499 63.9 
Niger 217,511 1.1 293,223 74.2 
Nigeria 991,821 5.2 2,214,913 44.8 
Rwanda 208,997 1.1 249,567 83.7 
Sao Tome and Principe 26,168 0.1 57,010 45.9 
Senegal 662,101 3.5 1,410,482 46.9 
Seychelles 78,449 0.4 368,082 21.3 
Sierra Leone 224,136 1.2 334,806 66.9 
Somalia 65,653 0.3 97,523 67.3 
South Africa 2,804,484 14.8 7,891,998 35.5 
Sudan 315,885 1.7 1,227,321 25.7 
Swaziland 66,728 0.4 69,635 95.8 
Tanzania 572,602 3.0 1,079,603 53.0 
Togo 644,290 3.4 815,262 79.0 
Tunisia 350,884 1.9 3,943,564 8.9 
Uganda 395,829 2.1 626,431 63.2 
Zambia 444,751 2.3 561,946 79.1 
Zimbabwe 522,161 2.8 721,888 72.3 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
9,472,390 495,343,012 1.9 S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 172  
 
  YAMOUSSOUKRO 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 DZ AO BJ BW BF BI CM CV CF TD KM ZR CI DJ EG GQ ER ET GA GM GH GN GW KE LS
DZ        x          x   x                
AO        x          x x  x     
BJ     x  x  x x   x   x  x x x x x    
BW                           
BF x  x          x             
BI                  x      x  
CM   x      x x   x   x  x x     x  
CV   x                  x x  x   
CF    x    x   x   x      x       
TD   x    x  x    x   x  x        
KM               x          x  
ZR                          
CI x  x  x  x  x x     x   x x x x x  x  
DJ            x      x x      x  
EG x            x    x x   x   x  
GQ    x    x   x         x       
ER               x x           
ET  x x   x x   x   x x x    x  x   x  
GA  x x    x  x    x   x  x        
GM    x     x     x        x x x   
GH  x x     x     x  x   x  x  x  x  
GN   x          x       x x  x   
GW         x            x  x    
KE      x x    x  x x x   x   x     
LS                          
LR              x       x x x    
LY x  x  x  x  x x   x  x      x     
MG            x             x  
MW                 x      x  
ML x  x  x  x   x   x     x x x x x  x  
MR x  x          x             
MU                        x  
MZ                         x  
NA  x  x                      
NE x  x  x  x   x   x             
NG   x    x   x   x  x x  x x x x x  x  
RW       x            x      x  
ST   x     x x           x  x     
SN x  x  x  x x  x   x     x x x x x x x  
SC                         x  
SL    x    x      x     x x x x x  x  
SO               x    x      x  
ZA  x x x   x x  x x  x  x   x x  x   x x 
SD         x x x    x  x x      x  
SZ                          
TZ           x       x      x  
TG   x  x  x  x    x   x  x x x x x    
TN x            x  x           
UG      x        x x   x      x  
ZM  x                x      x  
ZW  x  x              x      x   S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 173 
 
 
  YAMOUSSOUKRO 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement (Continued) 
 
LR LY MG MW ML MR MU MZ NA NE NG RW ST SN SC SL SM ZA SD SZ TZ TG TN UG ZM ZW  
 x   x x    x    x         x    DZ 
        x    x     x       x x AO 
 x   x x    x x   x  x  x    x     BJ 
        x         x        x BW 
 x   x     x    x        x     BF 
           x            x   BI 
 x   x     x x  x x  x  x    x     CM 
            x x    x         CV 
 x                 x   x     CF 
 x   x     x x   x    x x        TD 
  x               x x  x      KM 
                          ZR 
x x   x x    x x   x  x  x    x x    CI 
                x       x   DJ 
 x         x       x x    x x   EG 
          x           x     GQ 
                  x        ER 
   x x      x x  x  x x x x  x x  x x x ET 
    x      x  x x  x  x    x     GA 
x    x      x   x  x      x     GM 
x x   x      x  x x  x  x    x     GH 
x    x      x   x  x      x     GN 
             x             GW
  x x x  x x   x x  x x x x x x  x   x x x KE 
                 x          LS 
          x   x  x           LR 
    x     x x   x     x   x x    LY 
      x           x         MG 
       x          x   x   x x x MW
 x    x    x x   x  x  x    x x    ML 
    x         x         x    MR 
  x            x   x        x MU 
   x              x  x x     x MZ 
                 x        x NA 
 x   x      x   x     x   x     NE 
x x   x     x   x x  x  x x   x     NG 
                 x      x   RW 
          x                ST 
x x   x x    x x     x  x    x x    SN 
      x           x         SC 
x    x      x   x        x     SL 
                          SO 
  x x x  x x x  x x  x x     x x   x x x ZA 
 x        x x             x   SD 
       x          x         SZ 
   x    x          x      x  x TZ 
 x   x     x x   x  x           TG 
 x   x x        x             TN 
   x        x      x x  x     x UG 
   x              x        x ZM 
   x   x x x         x   x   x x  ZW  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 175 
 
 
   
 
 
   
ACS 
 
(Air Transport Agreement for a Common Aviation Area  
of the Association of Caribbean States) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at:  
http://www.acs-aec.org/Documents/Transport/Final_ata_En.pdf 
 
• A summary of the agreement presented by the S ecretariat of the ACS to the ICAO Regulatory 
Policy Seminar held on 27-29 April 2004, titled "Liberalisation Policy and Implementation", 
is available at:  www.icao.int/cgi/got o_m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm   
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 176 ACS 
Mexico Bahamas 
Belize Cuba 
Guatemala 
Honduras El Salvador 
Nicaragua 
Costa Rica 
Panama 
Colombia Bol. Rep of Venezuela 
Guyana 
Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Grenada Antigua Jamaica 
Dominica 
St Kitts St Lucia 
St Vincent   Barbados 
 Dominican Rep. Haiti  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 177ACS 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members1 WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th 
freedo
m 
12 February 
2004 Unlimited 
(Article 2.1c) 
 Two options: 
"(i) the exercise 
of such rights 
among the Parties 
concerned";  or 
"(ii) the exercise 
of such rights on 
the reciprocal and 
liberal exchange 
of rights among 
the Parties 
concerned" 
(Article 2.1d). 
Fifth freedom 
rights may also be 
suspended after 
consultations 
(Article 2.2) No specific provision Explicit exclusion 
(Article 2.6) 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentat
ive 
type Antigua & Barbuda Bahamas Barbados 
Belize 
Colombia Costa Rica 
Cuba 
Dominica Dominican Republic 
El Salvador 
Grenada Guatemala 
Guyana 
Haiti 
Honduras 
Jamaica Mexico 
Nicaragua 
Panama St. Kitts & Nevis 
Saint Lucia 
Saint Vincent & the  Grenadines 
Suriname 
Trinidad & Tobago Venezuela, Bol. Rep. 14.0 
 5.0 14.1 
 - 
11.8 22.0 
 5.1 
 - 28.9 
33.7 
25.9 31.9 
 6.0 
14.0 
32.7 
24.7 14.6 
26.5 
19.2  8.0 
11.8 
 -  
13.6 
11.5  8.0 60 days after 
the deposit of 
the instrument 
of ratification 
by one third of 
ACS members  
(Article 26) Community of 
interest  
(Article 3A2 and 
3B) Multidesignation 
(limited to two 
airlines) 
(Article 3A1) Free-
determination, 
and provision for 
the prevention of 
anti competitive 
practices 
(Article 13) Country of 
origin 
(Article 14) Cooperative 
arrangements 
(Article 9) 29 O 
                                                      
1 The agreement mentions as signatories also France, in respect of Guadeloupe, French Guyana and Martinique, and the Kingdom of Netherlands in respect of Aruba 
and the Netherlands Antilles.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 178 ACS 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services Article 2.1 Same regime as for passenger scheduled services 
Non-scheduled passenger and cargo services Article 2.4 "The Partie s shall favourably consider requ ests by designated airlines t o operate non-
scheduled passenger and/or cargo flights wh enever these do not affect nor constitute 
unfair competition for scheduled flights." 
Ground handling Article 8.3 Free choice amongst the providers available 
Selling and marketing  Full right of establishment, currency conversion and transfer 
Computer Reservation Systems Article 10 Un restricted and non di scriminatory access, application of the ICAO code of conduct 
Competition Article 13 Disciplines to prevent anti competitive practices 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third 
parties concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between 
members of the plurilateral 
 Article 17 "Bearing in mind the provisions in Article 2, this Agreement shall not affect any memorandum of 
understanding, bilateral or multilateral agreement sh owing similar authorizations that are already in 
force among the Parties  or among the Parties and a non-Party nor the renewal thereof." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
and third parties Article 17 "Bearing in mind the provisions in Article 2, this Agreement shall not affect any memorandum of 
understanding, bilateral or multilateral agreement sh owing similar authorizations that are already in 
force among the Parties or amon g the Parties and a non-Party
 nor the renewal thereof." 
Provision to address overlaps with 
other plurilateral agreements  - Colombia and the Bolivarian Rep. of Venezu ela are also members of the Andean Pact. 
Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Beli ze, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, 
St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Gren adines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago are also 
members of CARICOM-MASA. 
Accession provisions for third 
parties 
 Articles 19 
and 21 "This Agreement shall be open for signature by any State, Country and Territory referred to in Article 
IV of the Convention Establishing the Association of the Caribbean States that has ratified or adhered 
to said Convention." 
"After its entry into for ce, this Agreement shall re main open to accession by the States, Countries and 
Territories mentioned in Article IV of the Conv ention Establishing the Association of Caribbean 
States, in accordance with the re spective constitutional procedures." 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 179ACS 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type  
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage     Ideally, the points attributed should be weighted by the number of 
Members that will choose to grant full fifth freedom rights as opposed to 
those that will choose reciprocal and liberal exchange of fifth freedom rights (Article 2.1d) 
Capacity   
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin 3 2.5 2.5 2.5 
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest 4 3.5 7 3.5 
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 29 32 28.5 30  
Tentative Type O None of the ASA types identified includes "country of origin" as a pricing 
criterion. 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 180 ACS 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the 
other members 
of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of 
each member to 
the total traffic of 
the plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the 
plurilateral 
agreement within 
total international 
traffic of the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Antigua & Barbuda 417,218 3.4 929,180 44.9 
Bahamas 151,892 1.3 4,026,094 3.8 
Barbados 884,620 7.3 1,953,075 45.3 
Belize 98,062 0.8 528,188 18.6 
Colombia 1,033,801 8.5 3,895,413 26.5 
Costa Rica 911,939 7.5 3,161,361 28.8 
Cuba 491,243 4.1 2,092,729 23.5 
Dominica 146,349 1.2 247,032 59.2 
Dominican Rep. 377,602 3.1 5,130,035 7.4 
El Salvador 458,633 3.8 1,603,963 28.6 
Grenada 272,471 2.2 391,102 69.7 
Guatemala 808,011 6.7 1,950,910 41.4 
Guyana 253,709 2.1 491,108 51.7 
Haiti 59,600 0.5 671,791 8.9 
Honduras 371,371 3.1 1,090,025 34.1 
Jamaica 248,493 2.1 3,441,517 7.2 
Mexico 1,121,909 9.3 20,876,868 5.4 
Nicaragua 451,435 3.7 860,110 52.5 
Panama 885,726 7.3 1,766,253 50.1 
St. Kitts & Nevis 179,056 1.5 570,085 31.4 
Saint Lucia 383,652 3.2 901,550 42.6 
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines 327,256 2.7 411,811 79.5 
Suriname 58,790 0.5 316,687 18.6 
Trinidad & Tobago 944,841 7.8 1,652,622 57.2 
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic 773,525 6.4 3,472,733 22.3 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 181ACS 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
   
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
6,055,602 495,343,012 1.2 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 182 ACS 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 AG BS BB BZ CO CR CU DM DO SV GD GT GY HT HN JM MX NI PA KN LC VG SR TT VE 
Antigua & 
Barbuda    x     x x  x  x   x    x x x  x x 
Bahamas       x  x     x  x          
Barbados x       x   x  x   x    x x x  x x 
Belize          x  x   x           
Colombia      x x          x  x      x 
Costa Rica     x  x   x  x   x  x x x      x 
Cuba  x   x x   x x  x    x x x x      x 
Dominica x  x      x  x  x       x x x  x  
Dominican 
Rep. x x     x x      x  x x  x  x    x 
El 
Salvador    x  x x     x   x  x x x       
Grenada x  x     x        x    x x x  x x 
Guatemala    x  x x   x     x  x x x       
Guyana x  x     x            x   x x  
Haiti  x       x       x   x       
Honduras    x  x    x  x     x x x       
Jamaica x x x    x  x  x   x   x  x  x  x x  
Mexico     x x x  x x  x   x x   x      x 
Nicaragua      x x   x  x   x    x       
Panama     x x x  x x  x  x x x x x      x x 
St. Kitts & 
Nevis x  x     x   x  x        x x  x  
Saint 
Lucia x  x     x x  x     x    x  x  x  
Saint 
Vincent & 
the  G. x  x     x   x         x x   x  
Suriname             x   x        x  
Trinidad 
& Tobago x  x     x   x  x   x   x x x x x  x 
Venezuela, 
Bol. Rep. x  x  x x x  x  x      x  x     x  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 183 
 
 
   
   
 
   
ASEAN ROADMAP 
 
(Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Sectoral Integration Protocol 
for Air Travel) 
 
  
• The text of the agreement in English is available at:  http://www.aseansec.org/16664.htm 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 184 ASEAN ROADMAP  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 185ASEAN ROADMAP 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th freedom  8th freedom 9th freedom 
29 November 
2004 As of December 2005 :  
liberalisation of scheduled 
passenger services with no 
limitations on third and 
fourth freedom traffic rights 
for all designated points 
within the ASEAN sub-
regions. 
As of December 2006 :  
liberalisation of scheduled 
passenger services with no 
limitations on third and 
fourth freedom traffic rights 
for at least two designated 
points in each country 
between the ASEAN sub-
regions. 
As of December 2008 :  
ASEAN-wide liberalisation 
of scheduled passenger 
services, with no limitations 
on third and fourth freedom 
traffic rights for the capital 
city in each ASEAN 
Member Country As of December 2005 : 
liberalisation of scheduled 
passenger services with no 
limitations on fifth 
freedom traffic rights for 
all designated points 
within the ASEAN sub-
regions. 
As of December 2006 : 
Liberalisation of 
scheduled passenger 
services with no 
limitations on fifth 
freedom traffic rights for 
at least two designated 
points in each country 
between the ASEAN sub-
regions 
As of December 2010 : 
ASEAN-wide 
liberalisation of scheduled 
passenger services, with 
no limitations on fifth 
freedom traffic rights for 
the capital city in each 
ASEAN Member Country. No specific provisions 
Date of entry 
into force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative ALI 
(STD) Tentative 
type Brunei D. 
Cambodia 
Indonesia Lao PDR 
Malaysia 
Myanmar Philippines 
Singapore 
Thailand Viet Nam  16.7 
 8.1 
 12.9  0.2 
 10.7 
 7.1  13.1 
 13.0 
 9.9  8.0 
31 August 
2005 No specific provisions Cannot be 
computed in the absence of most 
of the 
QUASAR 
features Cannot be 
determined in 
the absence of 
most of the 
QUASAR 
features  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 186 ASEAN ROADMAP 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Air freight services Measure I.2 Full liberalisation of  ASEAN air freight services  as of December 2008 
 
 
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral  - - 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of 
the plurilateral and third parties - - 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral  
agreements  - All ASEAN members are member of one or several other 
plurilateral agreements (CLMV, BIMP-EAGA, IMT-GT, MALIAT).  
Accession provisions for third parties  - -  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 187ASEAN ROADMAP 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage     As of December 2008, and only for the capital city of each 
Member State (see Measure 8) 
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination     
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation      
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI - - - - Cannot be computed in the absence of most of the QUASAR 
features 
Tentative Type - Cannot be determined in the absence of most of the QUASAR 
features 
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 188 ASEAN ROADMAP 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Brunei Darussalam 412,488 1.2 556,126 74.2 
Cambodia 1,440,259 4.1 2,092,646 68.8 
Indonesia 6,021,495 17.2 11,681,464 51.5 
Lao People's Dem. Rep. 280,231 0.8 341,265 82.1 
Malaysia 6,421,840 18.4 14,188,052 45.3 
Myanmar 550,046 1.6 801,743 68.6 
Philippines 1,423,702 4.1 9,594,027 14.8 
Singapore 9,289,349 26.6 22,567,176 41.2 
Thailand 6,880,796 19.7 25,000,104 27.5 
Viet Nam 2,218,808 6.4 6,224,375 35.6 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
17,469,507 495,343,012 3.5 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 189ASEAN ROADMAP 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Brunei D. Cambodia Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Viet Nam 
Brunei D.    x   x  x x x x 
Cambodia    x x   x x x 
Indonesia x    x  x x x x 
Lao PDR  x       x x 
Malaysia x x x   x x x x x 
Myanmar     x   x x  
Philippines x  x  x   x x x 
Singapore x x x  x x x  x x 
Thailand x x x x x x x x  x 
Viet Nam x x x x x  x x x  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 191 
 
 
   
 
   
 
PIASA 
 
(Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement) 
 
 
 
• The text of the agreement in English is available at:  
http://forumsec.org/_resources/article/files/piasa 
 
• A summary presented by the Pacific Forum Secretariat at ICAO's Fifth Worldwide Air 
Transport Conference, titled "The Pacific Is lands Air Services Agreement (PIASA) Phased 
Development of a Single Aviation Market in the Pacific" and dated February 2003, is 
available at:  www.icao.int/cgi/goto_ m_atb.pl?icao/en/atb/ecp/Databases.htm  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 192 PIASA  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 193PIASA 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom 7th 
freedom  8th 
freedom 9th 
freedom 
16 August 2003 (Cook Islands, 
Nauru, Tonga, Vanuatu). 
Since, six other signatures:  
Kiribati, Niue, Papua New 
Guinea, Samoa, Solomon 
Islands and Tuvalu As of stage 1 (between 6 and 12 months 
after the entry into force) for scheduled 
services. (Annex 1, stage 1, point 1) In three stages1 
(Article 5.1.c 
and Annex 1) Same as for third and 
fourth freedoms 
(Annex 1 stage 3 
point (a)) No 
specific 
provisions Explicit exclusion 
(Article 5.4) 
Date of entry into force Withholding Designati
on Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASA
R Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type Cook Islands 
Fiji Kiribati 
Marshall Islands 
Micronesia, Fed. States Nauru Niue Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands 
Tonga 
Tuvalu Vanuatu   
  
 
 11.0  12.2  -  27.8   -  20.3  -  - 
 
 1.5  8.8  1.6  9.4  10.0  16.7 After the deposit of the sixth 
instrument of ratification.   
Five ratifications so far, i.e. 
Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, 
Nauru, Vanuatu (the last one, 
Vanuatu, dating from 
15 May 2007) Stage 1 (from 6 to 30 
months after entry into 
force) and stage 2 (6 to 30 
months after entry into 
force):   
community of interest or, in 
certain instances
2 principle 
place of business. 
Stage 3 (after 30 months): 
community of interest or 
principal place of business  
(Article 6.2.b) Multidesignati
on 
(Article 
6.1) Free 
determination 
(Article 13.2) Free pricing (filing 
and provision for the 
prevention of 
anticompetitive 
practices) 
(Article 14) Cooperativ
e 
arrangeme
nts (Article 
9) 38 G 
                                                      
1 Stage 1  (between 6 and 12 months after entry into force):  confirmation of pre-existing fifth freedom rights (Annex 1, stage 1, point 2);  fifth freedom rights for the 
designated airline of a party that does not  have an airline operating on international routes at the time that the agreement co mes into force ( ibid., point 3), and possibility to 
exercise fifth freedom rights where they do  not exist for the carriage of passengers w hose journey originates in the territory of a State that is not a party ( ibid., point 5). 
Stage 2  (between 12 and 30 months after entry into force):  allowan ce of fifth freedom scheduled traf fic intra-PIASA an d "to the exten t that bilateral arrangements 
allow [between the territory of a PIASA Member and] the territory  of a State that is not party to this agreement for the carria ge of passengers whose journey originates in any 
State that is not a party to this ag reement (Annex 1, stage 2, point 3). 
Stage 3  (30 months after the entry into force):  allowance of fifth fr eedom rights "to the extent that bilateral arrangements with Sta tes that are not a party to this 
agreement allow scheduled beyond (5th freedom) services to and from those States" (Annex 1, stage 3, point b). 
2 These instances are:  "where that airline ceases to be substan tially owned and effectively controlled by one or more of the Pa rties to this Agreement and/or their 
nationals, an airline may be designated provided it is effectively controlled by one or more of the Parties to this Agreement a nd/or their nationals and has its place of residence 
and principal place of business in the terr itory of the designating Party" (Article 6. 2.a(ii)) or "where the Party does not hav e an airline operating on international routes at the 
time that this Agreement comes into force, the air line to be designated by the Party ha s its place of residence and principal p lace of business in the terr itory of the designating 
Party" (Article 6.2.a(iii)).  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 194 PIASA 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Scheduled cargo services Article 1(m) Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Dry and wet leasing Article 8 Full right to lease 
Selling and marketing Article 10 Full right of establishment, currency conversion, and transfer 
Competition Article 13 and Annex II Disciplines to prevent anticompetitive practices 
  
 
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties co ncerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of the plurilateral 
 Article 5.3 "Nothing in this Agreement shall impair or limit the rights that 
have been exchanged in air services agreements between 
Parties to this Agreement  or between Parties to this Agreement 
and other States." 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between members of the 
plurilateral and third parties Article 5.3 "Nothing in this Agreement shall impair or limit the rights that 
have been exchanged in air services agreements between 
Parties to this Agreement or between Parties to this Agreement 
and other States ." 
Provision to address overlaps w ith other plurilateral agreements 
 - The Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga are also members of the 
MALIAT 
Accession provisions for third parties  Articles 4.3 
and 25.1 "The Parties may agree to extend  the area [of the agreement] to 
include any other State, subject to terms consistent with this 
Agreement which shall be negotiated between the Parties and 
the other State." "This Agreement shall be open to accession by Australia and 
New Zealand at the commencement of Stage 3 of the 
movement to a single aviation market."  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 195PIASA 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom     
Cabotage      
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination 8 7 7 7.5 
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing  8 7 7 7.5  
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control     
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business 8 7 14 7.5  
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation 4 3.5 3.5 7.5  
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics 1 1 1 1 
Cooperative arrangements 3 2.5 2.5 2.5  
Tentative ALI 38 40 40 39  
Tentative Type G  
 
  
 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 196 PIASA 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the 
other members of 
the plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the 
member  Share of the 
plurilateral agreement 
within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Cook Islands 8,541 1.8 189,129 4.5 
Fiji 98,826 20.6 1,277,379 7.7 
Kiribati 34,376 7.2 41,032 83.8 
Marshall Islands 51,276 10.7 114,185 44.9 
Micronesia, Fed. States 31,334 6.5 122,443 25.6 
Nauru 30,530 6.4 39,827 76.7 
Niue 8,859 1.8 20,115 44.0 
Palau - - - - 
Papua New Guinea 11,076 2.3 235,850 4.7 
Samoa 78,666 16.4 313,495 25.1 
Solomon Islands 34,409 7.2 55,643 61.8 
Tonga 71,336 14.9 194,236 36.7 
Tuvalu 7,190 1.5 7,213 99.7 
Vanuatu 12,737 2.7 147,268 8.6 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
   
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
239,578 495,343,012 0.0  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 197PIASA 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Cook 
Islands Fiji Kiribati Marshall 
Islands Micronesia, 
Fed. States Nauru Niue Palau Papua 
New 
Guinea Samoa Solomon 
Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu 
Cook Islands   x                      
Fiji x  x   x    x x x x x 
Kiribati   x  x  x     x    
Marshall Islands   x  x x         
Micronesia, Fed. States     x           
Nauru   x x x       x    
Niue          x     
Palau               
Papua New Guinea           x    
Samoa  x     x     x   
Solomon Islands   x x   x   x     x 
Tonga  x        x     
Tuvalu   x             
Vanuatu   x         x    
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 199 
 
 
   
 
 
    
WAEMU 
 
(West African Economic and Monetary Union)39 
 
 
 
• The texts of the two relevant regulations (in French) are available at: 
http://www.uemoa.int/actes/2002/rega lement_24_2002_CMUEMOA.htm;  and 
 http://www.uemoa.int/actes/2002/reglemenet_6_2002_CM_UEMOA.htm 
 
  
 
 
 
                                                     
 
39 Two regulations make up the agreement:  Regul ation n°24/2002/CM/UEMOA, on the conditions of 
access of West African Economic a nd Monetary Union air car riers to intra-commun ity air traffic, and 
Regulation n°07/2002/CM/UEMOA, on the licensing of air carriers.  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 200 
WAEMU 
Benin 
Togo   
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 201WAEMU 
Table 1 
QUASAR-coded provisions 
 
Members WALI 
(STD) Date of 
signature 3rd freedom 4th freedom 5th freedom 6th freedom  7th freedom 8th freedom 9th freedom 
18 November 
2002 Unlimited third to ninth freedom rights within the agreement  
(Regulation n°24/2002, Article 2)  
Date of 
entry into 
force Withholding Designation Capacity Tariffs Other 
QUASAR Tentative 
ALI (STD) Tentative 
type 
Benin Burkina Faso 
Côte d'Ivoire 
Guinea Bissau 
Mali 
Niger Senegal 
Togo 3.9 
1.9 
7.4 
0.0 
6.1 
4.9 8.1 
5.1 N/A Substantial ownership 
and effective control, 
or if "the services 
exploited have in 
majority as points of 
arrival and departure one 
or several airports of one 
Member State and [...] 
its management, 
technical and operational 
staff is in majority 
composed of citizens of 
Member States" 
(Regulation n°07/2002, 
Article 4(c)) No specific provisions Cannot be 
computed in 
the absence 
of most of 
the 
QUASAR 
features  Cannot be 
determined in 
the absence 
of most of 
the 
QUASAR 
features  
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 202 
WAEMU 
Table 2 
Other salient features 
 
Features Provision Description or text 
Non-scheduled passenger services  Article 2 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Scheduled and non-scheduled cargo services  Article 2 Same regime as for scheduled passenger services 
Public service Article 4 Possibility to impose public service obligations 
 
  
Table 3 
Relationship with other Air Services Agreements and third parties 
 
Air Services Agreements/third parties 
concerned Provision Description or text 
Past bilateral ASAs between members of 
the plurilateral 
 - - 
Past and future bilateral ASAs between 
members of the plurilate ral and third parties Articles 
5.1 and 5.2 "In application of international agreemen ts in force, air carriers established 
in a State that is not member of WAEMU may be allowed by a Member State to exploit traffic rights from its territory, on intra-community links, 
provided that this third country: 
- grants de jure  and de facto  to WAEMU air carriers a treatment comparable 
 to the one reserved by Member Stat es to the carriers of that country 
- grants de jure  and de facto  to WAEMU air carriers the most favourable 
 treatment granted to carriers from other countries  - has granted an air carrier licence on  the basis of economic and technical 
 criteria equivalent to those defined in the regulation on WAEMU air 
 carriers licensing." 
Provision to address overlaps with other plurilateral agreements - All WAEMU members are also  members of Yamoussoukro 
Accession provisions for third parties - - 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 203WAEMU 
Table 4 
Tentative Air Liberalisation Index and type 
 
Elements Standard 
ALI 5th+ 
ALI OWN+ 
ALI DES+ 
ALI Observations 
Freedoms 
5th freedom 6 12 5 5.5 
7th freedom 6 5 5 5.5 
Cabotage 6 5 5 5.5  
Capacity 
Pre-determination     
"Bermuda 1"     
Free determination     
Other      
Tariffs 
Double approval     
Country of origin     
Double disapproval     
Zone pricing     
Free pricing       
Withholding 
Substantial ownership 
and effective control 0 0 0 0 
Community of interest     
Principal place of 
business      
Designation 
Single designation     
Multiple designation      
Other market access elements 
Exchange of statistics     
Cooperative arrangements      
Tentative ALI     Cannot be computed in the absence of most of the QUASAR features 
Tentative Type  Cannot be determined in the absence of most of the QUASAR features 
  
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 204 
WAEMU  
 
Table 5 
Traffic relations of the individual members of the plurilateral agreement 
 
Traffic with the other 
members of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Contribution of each 
member to the total 
traffic of the 
plurilateral 
agreement Total international 
traffic of the member Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic of 
the member Members 
(pax)  (%) (pax)  (%) 
Benin 234,692 10.4 672,974 34.9 
Burkina Faso 199,970 8.8 356,615 56.1 
Côte d'Ivoire 584,993 25.8 1,479,501 39.5 
Guinea Bissau 20,166 0.9 68,330 29.5 
Mali 430,884 19.0 815,999 52.8 
Niger 138,019 6.1 293,223 47.1 
Senegal 314,186 13.9 1,410,482 22.3 
Togo 340,850 15.1 815,262 41.8 
 
 
 
Table 6 
Traffic covered by the plurilateral agreement 
 
Total traffic covered by the 
plurilateral agreement Total international traffic Share of the plurilateral 
agreement within total 
international traffic 
(pax) (pax) (%) 
1,131,880 495,343,012 0.2 
 
  
   S/C/W/270/Add.2
 Page 205WAEMU 
Table 7 
Traffic relations covered by a direct service within the plurilateral agreement 
 
 Benin Burkina 
Faso Côte 
d'Ivoire Guinea 
Bissau Mali Niger Senegal Togo 
Benin   x x   x x x x 
Burkina Faso x  x  x x x x 
Côte d'Ivoire x x   x x x x 
Guinea Bissau       x  
Mali x x x   x x x 
Niger x x x  x  x x 
Senegal x x x x x x  x 
Togo x x x  x x x  
 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 207 
 
 
   
 
   
 
  
 
 
PART C 
 
MAIN CONCLUSIONS 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 209 
 
 
  C. MAIN CONCLUSIONS  
49. This part outlines the main conclusions that  emerge from the application of the QUASAR 
methodology to plurilateral agreements. 
1. Traffic covered 
50. This section updates, and in certain instances re fines, the part titled "Impact of plurilateral 
agreements" on pages I.29-I.31 of document S/C/W/ 270/Add.1, dated 30 November 2006.  It updates 
the information contained in that earlier document both with regard to the agreements examined 
(elimination of the BST;  addition of IATA44 and EU -CH) and their ratification status (US-EU, Euro-
Med).  It also refines the earlier analysis by computing the traffic covered by each plurilateral 
agreement on the basis of a more exhaustive data se t.  Indeed, rather than relying on WASA traffic 
data, which only includes the traffic carried unde r the bilateral ASAs included in the WASA 
database40, this section has utilised the entire IATA traffic data set, thus capturing also traffic relations 
which escape the WASA set (e.g. the 4.9 million p assengers carried between France and the United 
States in the absence of a corresponding bilateral AS A registered with ICAO have been added to the 
traffic under the US-EU agreement).  
51. The 21 plurilateral ASAs analysed accounted for nearly 152 million passengers in 2005, i.e. 
30.6 per cent of total international scheduled tra ffic for the year (495 million passengers).  Table 1 
recapitulates the contribution of each pl urilateral agreement to this total. 
Table 1 
Traffic carried under plurilatera l Air Services Agreements, 2005 
 
Plurilateral ASAs Traffic of the 
plurilateral ASA Share of total 
plurilateral traffic Share of total 
international traffic 
ACAC  15,942,916  10.5%  3.2% 
ACS  6,055,602  4.0%  1.2% 
Andean Pact  1,068,223  0.7%  0.2% 
ASEAN Roadmap  17,469,507  11.5%  3.5% 
Banjul  446,285  0.3%  0.1% 
BIMP-EAGA  2,911,980  1.9%  0.6% 
CARICOM-MASA  1,999,281  1.3%  0.4% 
CEMAC  423,328  0.3%  0.1% 
CLMV  718,696  0.5%  0.1% 
COMESA  1,823,185  1.2%  0.4% 
ECAA  17,791,659  11.7%  3.6% 
EU-CH  15,046,775  9.9%  3.0% 
Euro-Med  4,331,571  2.9%  0.9% 
Fortaleza  5,200,960  3.4%  1.0% 
IATA44  1,247,137  0.8%  0.3% 
IMT-GT  4,132,715  2.7%  0.8% 
MALIAT  2,489,974  1.6%  0.5% 
PIASA  239,578  0.2%  0.0% 
US-EU  41,869,190  27.6%  8.5% 
WAEMU  1,131,880  0.7%  0.2% 
Yamoussoukro  9,472,390  6.2%  1.9% 
TOTAL  151,812,832  100.0%  30.6% 
 
Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
                                                      
40 See also document S/C/W/270/Add.1, page I.33, footnote 44. S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 210  
 
  52. One may note that the agreements involving the United States (MALIAT, US-EU) and those 
involving the EU (EU-CH, US-EU, ECAA, Euro-Med) account for the largest share of the plurilateral 
traffic, i.e. 44 per cent of the total.  
53. Among the "regional" plurilateral agreements strictly speaking, the South-East Asian 
agreements (CLMV, IMT-GT, BIMP-EAGA, ASEAN Ro admap) are the most significant in traffic 
terms, with 16.6 per cent of the plurilateral traffi c.  They are followed by the Middle Eastern one 
(ACAC), with 10.5 per cent of the traffic, the Sout h American and Caribbean ones (Fortaleza, Andean 
Pact, CARICOM-MASA, ACS), with 9.4 per cent, the African ones (CEMAC, COMESA, WAEMU, Banjul, Yamoussoukro), with 8.7 per cent, and the only Oceanic agreement (PIASA), with 
0.2 per cent.  
54. These 21 agreements involve a total of 139 parties
41 and account for 2739 bilateral aviation 
relations, for 916 of which there is a direct service.  Table 2 illustrates the situation in detail.  The 
comparable figures for the QUASAR bilateral AS As are:  184 parties and 1970 bilateral aviation 
relations, 1042 of which with a direct service.  
Table 2 
Bilateral relations within plurilat eral agreements with a direct service 
 
Plurilateral ASA Number of bilateral 
relations Number of direct 
services in existence Direct service as a 
proportion of 
bilateral relations 
ACAC 210 113 54% 
ACS 300 102 34% 
Andean Pact 10 10 100% 
ASEAN Roadmap 45 31 69% 
Banjul 15 10 67% 
BIMP-EAGA 6 6 100% 
CARICOM-MASA 91 43 47% 
CEMAC 15 13 87% 
CLMV 6 3 50% 
EU-CH 26 23 88% 
ECAA 261 127 49% 
COMESA 190 53 28% 
Euro-Med 26 9 35% 
Fortaleza 21 20 95% 
IATA44 66 11 17% 
IMT-GT 3 3 100% 
MALIAT 28 14 50% 
PIASA 91 20 22% 
US-EU 26 18 69% 
WAEMU 28 22 79% 
Yamoussoukro 1275 265 21% 
TOTAL 2739 916 33% 
 
Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
 
55. The share of bilateral relations with a direct ser vice appears to be strongly correlated to the 
number of parties to the plurilateral agreement:  the smaller the number of parties, the higher the 
share.   
                                                      
41 Even if the 25 EC Member States are individually  parties to the agreements involving the EC, they 
have been counted as one so as to avoid including intra-EC relations.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 211 
 
 
  56. An examination of Table 7 of the plurilateral profiles would seem to indicate that, in most 
cases, the absence of a direct service is due to the limited commercial interest of the traffic relation 
concerned (e.g. a direct service between Mauritania and Botswana is  not commercially meaningful in 
light of the small traffic volumes, and hence more likely to be served through sixth freedom services 
via hubs such as Paris or Johannesburg).  However, in certain instances the absence of a direct service 
may be due to restrictive aviation policies, for instance in cases where th e plurilateral agreement is not 
actually or not yet fully applied.  
57. It is impossible to compare the share of direct  services for plurilateral agreements with that 
for bilateral ASAs because of the absence of information on non-IC AO recorded bilateral agreements 
without a direct service (there are, in contrast , 2569 non-ICAO recorded bilaterals with a direct 
service).  Figure 2 depicts the situation. 
Figure 2 
ICAO-recorded and non-recorded bilateral ag reements with and without direct services 
 
         
 
              
 
      Source
:  WTO Secretariat. 
 
58. Case studies would suggest that non ICAO-record ed bilateral ASAs without a direct service 
are numerous: it has been calculated, for in stance, that these agreements account for the 
overwhelming majority of the ASAs c oncluded by Zambia (57 out of 72).42   Should these finding be 
generally applicable, then the share of direct services in total bilateral agreements would be 
significantly lower than in plurilateral agreements. 
59. Furthermore, even setting aside transitional peri ods and effective implementation issues, it is 
methodologically difficult to compare the share of total international scheduled traffic covered by 
                                                      
42 See Mattoo, A. and L. Payton (eds.), "Services Trade and Development.  The Experience of 
Zambia", Palgrave Mac Millan and the World Bank , 2007, page 192. ICAO-recorded bilateral  
ASAs (in QUASAR) 
(1970) 
Bilateral ASAs 
 not recorded by ICAO 
(number unknown)  
 
DIRECT 
   
SERVICES ICAO-recorded 
bilateral ASAs( in 
QUASAR) without a 
direct service (928) ICAO-recorded 
bilateral ASAs (in 
QUASAR) with a 
direct service 
(1042) 
"Orphan services" 
i.e. non ICAO-
recorded bilateral 
ASAs with a direct 
service (2569) Non ICAO-recorded 
bilateral ASAs 
without a direct 
service 
(number unknown) 
Totality of bilateral ASAs 
(number unknown) S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 212  
 
  plurilateral agreements to the share covered by bilateral agreements as described by QUASAR, as 
illustrated by Figure 3. 
Figure 3 
International scheduled traffic as covered  by bilateral and plurilateral agreements 
  
 
     
 
             
 
       Source
:  WTO Secretariat. 
 
60. The four subcategories that appear at the inte rsection of the two bars in Figure 3 cannot be 
measured at this stage, but only illustrated. 
61. In the future, however, the Secretariat stands ready, if Members so wish, to improve the 
sample of bilateral agreements analysed in QUASAR and to make it as exhaustive as possible by 
using additional sources (the Aeroaccords database,  the ICAO DAGMAR application, the UN Treaty 
series, web searches and any communi cations by Members).  This will hopefully allow, in the coming 
years, a better identification of the overlaps betw een plurilateral agreements, on the one hand, and 
bilateral agreements on the other.  
2. Degree of openness of plurilateral agreements 
62. The degree of openness of plurilateral ASAs as measured by the WALI compares very 
favourably to the one of bilateral ASAs, as illustrated by Table 3. Traffic covered by non ICAO-
recorded bilateralsTraffic covered by 
plurilaterals ICAO-recorded bilaterals that legally 
coexist with plurilaterals 
(e.g. Indonesia-Malaysia and IMT-GT) 
ICAO-recorded bilaterals that have been 
superseded by plurilaterals 
(e.g. UK-US)
Non ICAO-recorded bilaterals that coexist 
legally with plurilaterals 
(e.g. Indonesia-Thailand and IMT-GT) 
Non ICAO-recorded bilaterals that have 
been superseded by plurilaterals 
(e.g. France-US) 
Total international 
scheduled traffic Traffic covered by ICAO-
recorded bilaterals  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 213 
 
 
  Table 3 
Weighted Air Liberalisation Index of selected gr oups of plurilateral and bilateral agreements, 
ranked by traffic 
 
ASAs concerned WALI 
Plurilateral ASAs 
Top 5 plurilateral ASAs  36.6 
Plurilateral ASAs over a million passenger  34.4 
All QUASAR plurilateral ASAs  34.4 
Bilateral ASAs 
Top 100 bilateral ASAs  16.1 
Top 200 bilateral ASAs  15.4 
Bilateral ASAs over a million passengers  16.6 
All QUASAR bilateral ASAs  14.0 
 
Source :  WTO Secretariat. 
 
63. Table 4 details the ALI of each plurilateral agreement computed according to the four 
QUASAR weighting systems (i.e. standard, 5th+, DES+, OWN+).  For each system, agreements are 
listed in decreasing order of ALI.  Those agreemen ts which do not contain all of the QUASAR-coded 
features, and for which therefore an ALI could not be computed (i.e. BIMP-EAGA, ASEAN 
Roadmap and WAEMU) do not appear in the Table. 
Table 4 
Plurilateral agreements ranked by ALI 
 
QUASAR weighting systems 
STD  5th+  OWN+  DES+ 
Agreement ALI  Agreement ALI  Agreement ALI  Agreement ALI 
ECAA 43  ECAA 44  PIASA 40  ECAA 43.5 
MALIAT 
(with optional 
protocol) 42  MALIAT 
(with optional 
protocol) 43  ECAA 37  MALIAT 
(with optional 
protocol) 43 
ACAC 39  ACAC 40.5  ACAC 37  ACAC 39.5 
PIASA 38  PIASA 40  CEMAC 37  PIASA 39 
US-EU 
(with 7th freedom) 38  US-EU 
(with 7th freedom) 39.75  COMESA 36  US-EU 
(with 7th freedom) 38.75 
COMESA 38  COMESA 39.5  MALIAT 
(with optional 
protocol) 36  COMESA 38.5 
CEMAC 37  CEMAC 37  Andean Pact 35.5  CEMAC 36 
Yamoussoukro 34  Yamoussoukro 36.5  US-EU 
(with 7th freedom) 34.5  Banjul 35 
Banjul 34  Banjul 36.5  Banjul 33  IATA44 34.5 
IATA44 33  IATA44 35.5  Yamoussoukro 33  Euro-Med 34 
Andean Pact 33  Andean Pact 35.5  US-EU 
(no 7th freedom) 29  Andean Pact 34 
US-EU 
(no 7th freedom) 32  US-EU 
(no 7th freedom) 34.75  IATA44 28.5  Yamoussoukro 34 
Euro-Med 31  Euro-Med 33.75  CARICOM 28.5  US-EU 
(no 7th freedom) 33.25 
MALIAT 30  MALIAT 33  Euro-Med 28.5  MALIAT 33 
ACS 29  ACS 32  ACS 28.5  CARICOM 30.5 
CARICOM 29  CARICOM 32  MALIAT 26  ACS 30 
CLMV 28  CLMV 31  CLMV 24  CLMV 29.5 
Fortaleza 13  Fortaleza 18  Fortaleza 11  Fortaleza 15.5 
 
Notes: STD = Standard weighting system;  5th+ = Fifth freedom-plus weighting system;  OWN+ = Ownership-plus 
weighting system;  DES+ = Designation-plus weighting system. Source
: WTO Secretariat. 
 S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 214  
 
  64. An analysis of Table 4 points to the following main conclusions: 
• Whatever the weighting system, virtually all pl urilateral agreements are very liberal, with 
ALIs higher than 28 (the exceptions are the Fortaleza agreement, under the four systems, 
MALIAT and CLMV under the OWN+ system). 
• ALIs are not correlated to the size of the traffi c:  very liberal agreements exhibit both high 
and low traffic volumes (e.g. ECAA (ALI of 43 and 17.8 million passengers) and US-EU 
(with 7
th freedom) (ALI of 38 and 41.9 million passe ngers);  but also PIASA (ALI of 38 and 
0.2 million passengers) and CEMAC (ALI of 37  and 0.4 million passe ngers) and relatively 
less liberal ones exhibit similar differences in traffic volumes (e.g. MALIAT (ALI of 30 and 
2.5 million passengers);  but also Fortaleza (ALI of 13 and 5.2 million passengers) and 
CARICOM-MASA (ALI of 29 and 2 million passengers).  
• The rankings and the ALIs are relatively constant across the weighting systems with the 
exception of the OWN+ system, due to the persistence of restrictive withholding clauses in 
several agreements (e.g. IATA44, US-EU, MA LIAT).  The impact of such clauses is, 
however, tempered in the case of the agreements  involving the EU, with their asymmetrical 
withholding clauses, because of the averaging of the ownership points, as explained in the methodological introduction.  
65. Regardless of these differences, plurilateral agreem ents (apart from Fortaleza and, to a lesser 
extent, the plurilateral agreements missing from Table 4) appear to be very homogeneous and highly 
liberal, and significantly more so than their bilateral counterparts.  
3. Types of plurilateral agreements 
66. Five plurilateral agreements, which do not c ontain all of the QUASAR-coded features, could 
not be analysed in terms of ASA type, name ly ASEAN Roadmap, BIMP-EAGA, COMESA, IMT-GT 
and WAEMU.  Table 5 illustrates the situation w ith regard to the remaining 16 agreements, and 
compares it to that of bilateral ASAs.   
Table 5 
Plurilateral and bilateral Air Services Agreements by type 
 
Plurilateral ASAs Bilateral ASAs 
Type Number 
of ASAs Traffic 
covered 
(million pax) WALI Type Number 
of ASAs Traffic 
covered 
(million pax) WALI 
A - - - A 221 18.4 0.3 
B - - - B 182 19.7 4.2 
C - - - C 432 30.2 6.2 
D - - - D 99 10.4 10.2 
E - - - E 267 43 10.3 
F - - - F 154 71.1 15.5 
G 12 111.7 35.7 G 69 58 30.4 
I - - - I 302 56 10.6 
O 4 12.7 21.8 O 244 41.8 14.3 
n/a 5 27.4 37.0 n/a - - - 
Total 21 151.8 34.4 Total 1970 349 14.0 
 
Notes: Pax = Passengers;  n/a = not available.  Totals may not add up due to rounding.  The WALI of the five 
plurilateral agreements whose type could not be determined (i.e. n/a type) corresponds to the ALI of COMESA, as for all other four such agreements no ALI could be computed. 
Source
: WTO Secretariat 
  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 215 
 
 
  67. Plurilateral agreements fall under only one of two types:  type O ("Other"), i.e. Andean Pact, 
CEMAC, Fortaleza, and ACS, or type G ("classical open skies" and "more than open skies").43  By 
contrast, bilateral ASAs are much more evenly distributed. 
68. ASA type O is a residual category which, in the case of bilateral agreements, presents no 
homogeneity.  However, in the case of plurilateral ag reements it is much more homogeneous:  three 
out of the four agreements concerned (i.e. Andean Pact, Fortaleza and ACS) are classified under type 
O because of the restrictive, "country of origin" pric ing clause they contain.  The fourth one, CEMAC, 
owes its classification under type O to a predetermination capacity clause.  All other features of these agreement (with the exception of Fortaleza) would qualify them as an ASA type G.  
69. A more detailed scrutiny of the type G agreements shows that they bear a certain resemblance 
to those classified under type O.  Safeguard clauses,  cross-references to existing bilateral provisions 
on capacity, "fair competition clauses" and self-rest raint clauses create in several instances the 
potential to restrict both capacity and pricing.  The effect of these provisions, however, is difficult to 
assess in the absence of data on implementation.  
70. As explained in document S/C/W/270/Add.1 (T able A3, page I.17), type G may contain 
alternative withholding provisions, including the r estrictive "substantial ownership and effective 
control" clause.  The SOEC provision can indeed be found in five of the 12 type G agreements, 
namely CLMV, US-EU on the US side, Euro-Med  on the Moroccan side, IATA44 and MALIAT.  
4. Analysis by features 
(i) Fifth freedom traffic rights 
71. Fifth freedom traffic rights are granted in all plurilateral agreements except two, i.e. BIMP-
EAGA and IMT-GT.  The 19 agreements including fi fth freedom rights represent 95.5 per cent of the 
total traffic carried under plurilatera l agreements, or 29.2 per cent of international scheduled traffic.  
72. By comparison, this feature is granted in two-th irds of bilateral agreements, covering close to 
80 per cent of the WASA traffic.  
73. However, one may note that, in plurilateral ASAs , fifth freedom rights are often granted after 
restrictive transitional periods and are occasionally subj ect to restrictions also in the final phases.  In 
the absence of comparatively detailed regulatory data for bilateral agreements, it is impossible to draw 
even an "impressionistic" comparison between plur ilateral and bilateral ASAs in this regard.  
(ii) Seventh freedom traffic rights 
74. Seventh freedom traffic rights are present in eight agreements (ACAC, COMESA, ECAA, 
US-EU
44, EU-CH, IATA44, WAEMU and MALIAT with its optional protocol) out of 21.  These 
agreements45 represent 64 per cent of the total traffic covered by plurilateral agreements, or 
19.6 per cent of international scheduled traffic.   
75. By comparison, this feature is present in 39 bilateral agreements (out of 1970), covering 
2 per cent of the WASA traffic.   
                                                      
43 See also document S/C/W/270/Add.1, page I.36 footnote 53. 
44 Only for EU carriers and between the United Stat es and ECAA partners that are not EU Member 
States.  
45 Because of statistical constraints,  the totality of the traffic carried  under the MALIAT has been taken 
into account in the calculations, in spite  of the optional protocol having been  signed by only five members of the 
MALIAT (i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Cook Islands, New Zealand and Singapore). 
 S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 216  
 
  (iii) Cabotage 
76. Cabotage is present in five plurilateral agreements (i.e. CEMAC, COMESA, ECAA, 
WAEMU, MALIAT with optional pr otocol).  None of these agreements distinguishes between eight 
freedom (consecutive cabotage) and ninth freedom (stand-alone cabotage).  These five agreements
46 
represent 15.5 per cent of the total traffic covered by plurilateral agreements, or 4.8 per cent of 
international scheduled traffic.  
77. By comparison, this feature is present in onl y two bilateral agreements, covering less than 
0.1 per cent of the WASA traffic.  
(iv) Tariffs 
78. Five agreements (i.e. BIMP-EAGA, COMESA, IMT-GT, ASEAN Roadmap, WAEMU) 
could not be coded with respect to tariffs.   
79. The dominant clause in all other plurilaterals is "free pricing", which is present in 11 
agreements out of 21 (i.e. ACAC, Banjul, CEMAC, ECAA, EU-CH, US-EU, Euro-Med, IATA44, Yamoussoukro, PIASA and MALIAT).  Togeth er, these agreements account for 109 million 
passengers, i.e. 72 per cent of the traffic covered by  plurilateral agreements, or 22.1 per cent of total 
international scheduled traffic.  
80. The "country of origin" clause is found in th ree agreements (i.e. Andean Pact, ACS and 
Fortaleza), accounting altogether for 12.3 million passenge rs, i.e. 8.1 per cent of plurilateral traffic.  
81. Finally, the "double disapproval" clause, a semi-liberal feature which may be present under 
ASA type G, can be found in two agreements (CARICOM-MASA and CLMV), representing together 
2.7 million passengers, i.e. 1.8 per cent of the traffic covered by plurilateral ASAs. 
82. Neither the "dual approval" nor the "zone pricing" clauses are present in plurilaterals. 
83. By comparison, only four bilateral agreemen ts, accounting for 0.1 per cent of the WASA 
traffic, contain a "free pricing" clause.  "Zone  pricing" is found in bilaterals accounting for 
2.2 per cent of the WASA traffic, "double disapproval" for 20.3 per cent, "country of origin" for 1 per cent and "double approval" is the ove rriding clause representing 72.9 per cent.  
84. Once again, regardless of various safeguards and "fair competition" clauses contained therein, 
plurilateral agreements appear much more liberal than bilateral ones.  
(v) Capacity 
85. Two agreements (i.e. ASEAN Roadmap and WAEM U) could not be coded with regard to 
capacity.  
86. For all other agreements, "free determination" appears as the dominant feature, as it is present 
in all agreements save CEMAC and Fortaleza, wh ich both have a "pre-determination" clause and 
account for 3.7 per cent of total plurilateral traffic.   The 17 "free determination" agreements account 
for 127.6 million passenger, i.e. 84.1 per cent of th e traffic covered by plurilateral agreements, or 
25.8 per cent of total international scheduled traffic.  
87. "Bermuda I" and "other" capacity cl auses do not appear in plurilaterals.  
                                                     
 
46 See previous footnote.  S/C/W/270/Add.2 
 Page 217 
 
 
  88. By comparison, for bilateral agreements fr ee determination accounts for 18 per cent of 
WASA traffic, Bermuda I for 26.5 per cent, pr edetermination for 25.6 and "undetermined" for 
11.6 per cent.  
89. Capacity-wise, plurilateral agreements appear therefore once again much more liberal than 
bilaterals, even taking into account the various sel f-restraint or "fair competition" clauses found in 
several plurilateral ASAs.  
(vi) Designation 
90. Two agreements (i.e. WAEMU and ASEAN Roadma p) could not be coded with regard to 
designation.  
91. All other plurilateral agreements contain a multidesignation clause;  they cover 133.2 million 
passengers, i.e. 87.8 per cent of the plurilateral traffi c or 26.9 per cent of tota l international scheduled 
traffic.  One must note, however, that in  several instances (e.g. IMT-GT, BIMP-EAGA) 
multidesignation is limited to two airlines.  
92. By comparison, multidesignation in bilateral ag reements accounts for 78.25 per cent of the 
WASA traffic. 
(vii) Withholding 
93. Four agreements (i.e. ASEAN Roadmap, BIMP-EAGA, Fortaleza47 and IMT-GT) did not 
contain sufficient information to be coded with regard to withholding provisions. 
94. Of the others, five contain the traditional "substa ntial ownership and effective control" clause, 
namely CLMV, US-EU (on the US side), Euro-Med (on the Moroccan side), IATA44 and WAEMU.  Together, those five agreements account for 49 .3 million passengers, i.e. 32.5 per cent of the 
plurilateral traffic or 10 per cent of to tal international scheduled traffic.  
95. Ten agreements contain the "community of  interest" clause, namely ACAC, Banjul, 
CARICOM-MASA, COMESA, ECAA, EU-CH (on the EU  side), Euro-Med (on the EU side), US-
EU (on the EU side), Yamoussoukro and ACS.  Together, these ten agreements account for 
114.7 million passengers, i.e. 75.6 per cent of plurilatera l traffic or 23.2 per cent of total international 
scheduled traffic.   
96. Finally, the "principal place of business" clause  appears in four agreements:  Andean Pact, 
CEMAC, EU-CH (on the Swiss side) and PIASA.  T ogether those four agreements cover 16.8 million 
passengers, i.e. 11.1 per cent for the plurilateral tr affic or 3.4 per cent of the total international 
scheduled traffic.  
97. Because of the existence of "asymmetric" withholding clauses in all but one (the ECAA) of 
the agreements involving the EU (i.e. SOEC-COI  for US-EU and Euro-Med, COI-PPOB for EU-CH), 
however, the figures given above imply significant double counting.   
98. By comparison, in the case of bilateral ASAs "s ubstantial ownership and effective control" is 
found in agreements covering 90 per cent of the WA SA traffic, "community of interest" accounts for 
0.1 per cent and "principal place of business" for 7.6 pe r cent.  It should be noted, however, that these 
figures are now outdated, as the share of the "commu nity of interest" clause would greatly increase if 
due account was taken of the 400-o dd agreements that the European Community and/or its Member 
States have renegotiated since the 2002 European C ourt of Justice "open skies" judgements.   
                                                     
 
47 The Fortaleza agreement does contai n a withholding provision, which,  however, refers back to the 
national regimes of the individual members, making it impossible to assess the withholding clause for the 
agreement as a whole. S/C/W/270/Add.2 
Page 218  
 
  (viii) Cooperative arrangements 
99. 12 agreements contain a clause specifically permitting cooperative arrangements, namely 
ACAC, Andean Pact, Banjul, CEMAC, CLMV, CO MESA, US-EU, Euro-Med, Yamoussoukro, ACS, 
PIASA and MALIAT.  Together, these agreements represent 84.9 million passengers i.e. 55.9 per cent 
of plurilateral traffic and 17.2 per cent of total scheduled traffic.  
100. By comparison, cooperative arrangements clauses c over only 25.7 per cent of the traffic in the 
case of bilateral agreements.  
101. One may note, in addition, th at the cooperative arrangements clauses in plurilateral ASAs 
frequently extend to third-country code sharing and to multi modal operations.  
(ix) Exchange of statistics 
102. Exchange of statistics is required by only th ree agreement, i.e. CEMAC, Euro-Med and 
Fortaleza, which together account for 9.9 million passe ngers, i.e. 6.6 per cent of plurilateral traffic or 
2 per cent of total international scheduled traffic.  
103. By comparison, compulsory exchange of statistics covers 36.9 per cent of the traffic in the 
case of bilateral agreements.  Once again, plurilate ral agreements appear significantly more liberal 
than bilateral ones.