Liberalising Foreign Investment in Airlines

Since 1944 and the signature of the Chicago convention, international air services has been governed by a strict regime of bilateral agreements. Liberalisation initiatives in almost every parts of the world since the 1980s have significantly reduced, although not removed the barriers to operating international air services. However an important restriction remains in the form of nationality rules, which limit foreign investment in airlines and cross-border consolidation. IATA has recently called for an urgent reform of this regime with its Agenda for Freedom initiative, based on the capital requirements of the industry and the need for global consolidation. We aim to assess the changes that could potentially result from the success of this initiative, thanks to a wide review of the economic context and complex regulatory framework governing international air services, a discussion of the costs and benefits involved and an in depth analysis of the initiative. A number of top aviation officials worldwide also contributed to this research.