Open Skies Agreements

Open Skies agreements lead to expanded demand for international aviation service and create new business for international air carriers. In addition, Open Skies agreements promote increased travel and trade, productivity, high-quality job opportunities and economic growth. They do this by reducing government interference in the commercial decisions of air carriers, freeing them to provide affordable, convenient and efficient air service for consumers.

An Open Skies agreement allows air carriers of the United States and the foreign signatory to make decisions on routes, capacity, and pricing, and fully liberalizes conditions for charters and other aviation activities including unrestricted codesharing rights. Open Skies policies are successful because they have gone hand-in-hand with airline globalization. By allowing air carriers unlimited access to points in the signatory countries and unlimited access to intermediate and beyond points, such agreements provide maximum operational flexibility for airline alliance partners.

Open Skies agreements can be either bilateral or multilateral. The United States has achieved Open Skies with 90 countries from every region of the world and at every level of economic development. In November 2000 the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, and Chile concluded negotiations for the Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalization of International Air Transportation (MALIAT) to replace the bilateral agreements between them. The MALIAT was signed on May 1, 2001 in Washington, DC. Samoa and Tonga have also acceded to the MALIAT. Mongolia has acceded to the MALIAT with respect to cargo.

Fact sheet on Open Skies agreements

Current Model Open Skies Agreement Text PDF version

Economic Impact of Aviation Liberalization

Full list of Open Skies agreements

Texts of Open Skies Agreements, Air Transport Agreements, Press Releases, Other Documents

Select a letter below to see all countries beginning with that letter. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Latest Update June 12, 2008

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