<title>Abstract</title> This article seeks to clarify the implications of the Open Skies agreement reached between the European Union (EU) and the USA in March 2007. It begins by reviewing the background of aviation regulation and the negotiations that have taken place between the European Commission (EC) and...

<title/> Major differences in the application of the public service obligation (PSO) mechanism in air transport across EU member states give rise to questions as to its misuse. Variations in the levels of subsidy awarded per passenger are due in part to the large differences in the maximum fares that...

The paper seeks to compare and contrast how different European Economic Area member states have adopted and made use of the public service obligation (PSO) mechanism in air transport. Analysis shows that there is considerable variation in the extent and way in which various countries have...

Airlines are not able to conduct their business in the same way as other global transnational industries. They are inhibited by the foreign ownership restrictions in Air Services Agreements and national laws. This paper reviews the background of nationality clauses and the current regulations in...

Airlines are constrained by the ownership and control rules contained in nearly all bilateral Air Services Agreements. This paper aims to provide details of the ways in which ownership rules around the world have evolved and how governments and carriers have responded to these changes. Some...

Direct competition between full service airlines and no-frills carriers is intensifying across the world. US and European full service airlines have lost a significant proportion of their passengers to low cost carriers, the experience now being repeated in the domestic markets of Asia. This...

Europe's charter airlines traditionally have carried their passengers at significantly lower unit costs than their scheduled counterparts. The emergence of “no-frills†scheduled carriers with their focus on low costs has produced major challenges not only to full service providers but...

In the last decade, the use of public service obligations (PSO; regulation and/or subsidies) in air transport to European remoter regions has substantially increased. However, there is significant heterogeneity between different regions in Europe with respect to the provision of PSO operations...