FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
Wednesday, November 15, 2000     
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT 222-00

United States, Asia-Pacific Aviation Partners Enter Multilateral Open Skies Agreement

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today heralded the beginning of a new era in the liberalization of international aviation by announcing that the United States and four of its aviation partners, in the culmination of the first multilateral initiative specifically focused on the comprehensive liberalization of aviation services, today reached a multilateral Open-Skies agreement. 

It is especially significant that this effort and the new agreement took place in the growing, strategically important Pacific Rim market, Secretary Slater said.

  The United States, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore completed the new multilateral “Open-Skies” agreement today at the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Brunei.

 “With this historic agreement we are beginning to move beyond the current system of bilateral aviation agreements and into the international aviation environment of the 21st century    -- one in which groups of nations, and ultimately the entire world, agree to free trade in aviation services,” Secretary Slater said.  “Building on the momentum we achieved in last year’s Beyond Open Skies conference and this year’s International Transportation Symposium, we are taking a giant step in answering President Clinton and Vice President Gore’s charge to expand new markets and break down barriers to trade.  We invite other nations to join us in this effort.”

  At the Beyond Open Skies conference, held last December in Chicago, Secretary Slater presented to the representatives of 93 nations the Clinton administration’s vision of moving beyond bilateral agreements to meet the challenges faced by aviation in the new century and new millennium.  

The United States currently has Open-Skies agreements with 50 aviation partners, including the four countries joining it in the new multilateral agreement.  Open Skies permit unrestricted service by the airlines of each side to, from and beyond the other’s territory, without restrictions on where carriers fly, the number of flights they opreate, and the prices they charge.  The agreement reached in Brunei provides for similar liberalization for all flights among the five countries for these countries’ carriers.

  The multilateral agreement will offer three important benefits:

·        Provide a Competition-Enhancing Model for Future Agreements:  The multilateral agreement mirrors the enormously successful U.S. Open-Skies bilateral agreements, which permit unrestricted international air service between the United States and each bilateral partner.  By expanding the Open-Skies model to the multinational level, the new agreement helps set the terms for the global marketplace and increases the odds that the U.S. Open-Skies approach will become the international standard.

·        Expand Carrier Access to Equity Financing:  Most bilateral agreements require that substantial ownership of a given air carrier be vested in either that carrier's homeland government or its nationals.  However, this requirement had made it difficult for many foreign carriers, which lack access to large domestic capital markets, to obtain cross-border financing.  The multilateral agreement substantially liberalizes the traditional ownership requirement, thus enhancing foreign carriers' access to outside investment.

·        Streamline International Aviation Relations:  Aviation is currently governed by thousands of bilateral agreements between more than 180 countries.  The multilateral agreement will provide a single, streamlined mechanism for broader exchanges of aviation opportunities.  By joining one multilateral agreement, countries can avoid prolonged negotiation of numerous individual bilateral agreements.

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Briefing Room