Aviation
Freedoms of the air
The international rights that let airlines fly over, land in and carry passengers between countries.
Last reviewedWhat does Freedoms of the air mean?
The freedoms of the air are rights that countries grant each other's airlines, usually through two-country air service agreements. They grew out of the 1944 Chicago Convention and its related agreements, and ICAO (the International Civil Aviation Organization) now describes nine. The first two are to fly over a country and to land there for fuel or repairs. The third and fourth are to carry passengers from home to another country and back. The fifth lets an airline carry passengers between two foreign countries on a flight that starts or ends at home. The rarer ones include cabotage, flying within another country, which few countries allow. Example: because the India and UAE air service agreement caps the seats each side may fly per week, UAE airlines cannot add India flights whenever demand grows.
Example
The sixth, central to Gulf hub carriers, carries passengers between two foreign countries through the home hub, for example London to Dubai to Mumbai.
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Related terms
- Hub-and-spoke networkAn airline network that routes passengers through a central airport to connect many cities.
- Airport slotPermission to use a busy airport at a set time to land or take off.
- Barriers to entryWhat makes it hard for new competitors to enter a market.
- ASK (available seat kilometre)One seat flown one kilometre: the standard measure of airline capacity.
- RPK (revenue passenger kilometre)One paying passenger flown one kilometre: the standard measure of airline traffic.
- Load factorThe share of seats filled with paying passengers: RPK divided by ASK.
- Yield (airlines)Passenger revenue per revenue passenger kilometre: the average fare per kilometre.
- RASK (revenue per available seat kilometre)Total airline revenue divided by ASKs.