Dr. Adnan Branbo, Chief Executive Officer of iJET.
Freedoms of the Air

Any aircraft that flies internationally outside the borders of its own country of registration is indeed practicing at least one of the freedoms of the air.

These freedoms are very well known by the commercial schedule airline industry due to their strict applications when the world’s civil aviation authorities are granting overflying and landing rights. The rights are exchanged in international conventions and multilateral & bilateral air service agreements.

However, they are less known in the charter aviation industry, as their application is less strict, and can be granted by countries’ civil aviation authorities without the existence of an international agreement or beyond the scope of such agreements.

In this brief we will clarify these freedoms of the air, and illustrate them to make them easier to understand and highlight the ones mostly important to the charter business aviation industry.

© Boeing.

First Freedom The right of the airline of one country to overfly the territory of another.

Second Freedom The right of the airline of one country to land at the airports of another country for technical (not commercial) purposes, such as crew rest, refueling or maintenance.

Third Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers from its home country to the airport of another.

Fourth Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers from the airport of another country to its home country.

Fifth Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers between the territories of two other countries, with the flight originating or ending in the airline’s home country.

Sixth Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers between two other countries with a stop in the airline’s home country. The sixth freedom is a combination of the third and fourth freedom. This freedom is the basis of the business model of airlines which rely on transit passengers through their hub airports, such as Singapore Airways, Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and others.

Seventh Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers between two other countries, without the flight originating or ending in the airline’s home country.

Eighth Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers between two airports in another country’s territory, when the flight is originating or ending in the airline’s home country. This right is known as Cabotage, or consecutive cabotage.

Ninth Freedom The right of the airline of one country to take passengers between two airports in the territory of another country, without the flight originating or ending in the airline’s home country. This right is known as “Pure Cabotage” or Stand-alone cabotage. Cabotage and Pure Cabotage are rarely given by the countries to foreign airlines, but restricted to their own national airlines, so they’re forbidden and not allowed in the laws of many countries. This restriction is not limited to schedule commercial airlines, but most of countries forbid them even for charter flights, including business aviation flights.

The European Union has liberalized cabotage when it established the Single Aviation Market, granting the airlines of each member state full cabotage rights in all the other member states.

This brief highlights the freedoms of the air which cover all the rights and restrictions that aircraft operators practice and comply with when flying outside the territory of their own country of establishment. These freedoms of the air are essential to enable passengers and traffic to move from one country to another around the world.

A useful and informative infographic entitled The Freedoms of the Air has been produced by Boeing and can be viewed here

Dr. Adnan Branbo is the Chief Executive Officer of iJET, a flight support service provider based in Malta and Dubai, with offices and representatives in Russia, India, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Madagascar. iJET services include over-flight and landing permits, credit ground handling arrangements, and aviation fuel at competitive prices. Adnan can be reached at: adnan@iJET.aero

www.ijet.aero

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 30th November 2017 | Issue #441