GNSS Optimizing Intercontinental Liberalization Of Air Transport

The major aims of certification of any GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) would be to establish minimum guarantees of quality (as expressed in such dimensions as accessibility, availability, continuity, integrity, reliability and accuracy). Furthermore, technological advances in the areas of CNS/ATM (Communications-Navigation- Surveillance/ Air Traffic Management) and decision support must be leveraged to evolve a modernized Airspace System. An "Open Sky policy", at least as formulated by the US government, has its limits. The next step must be an "Open Skies multilateral agreement", also called an "Open Aviation Area", which may shape Transatlantic traffic. Within such "Open Aviation Area", which is marked by the absence of restrictions upon the operation of air services operated within the area, competition must be regulated. Air transport is the only sector which is not regulated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The establishment of a Transatlantic Common Aviation Area (TCAA) needs to follow common approaches on a range of regulatory issues: a major issue will be the application of EU competition rules and US antitrust laws. This paper discusses the obstacles which the air transport industry faces when it will move from the current restrictive framework to a free regime, as shaped by the WTO/GATS, and provides a broad view on the Transatlantic Common Aviation Area (TCAA) initiatives in airThe major aims of certification of any GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) would be to establish minimum guarantees of quality (as expressed in such dimensions as accessibility, availability, continuity, integrity, reliability and accuracy). Furthermore, technological advances in the areas of CNS/ATM (Communications-Navigation- Surveillance/ Air Traffic Management) and decision support must be leveraged to evolve a modernized airspace system. An "Open Sky - policy", at least as formulated by the US government, has its limits. The next step must be an "Open Skies multilateral agreement", also called an "Open Aviation Area", which may shape Transatlantic traffic. Within such "Open Aviation Area", which is marked by the absence of restrictions upon the operation of air services operated within the area, competition must be regulated. Air transport is the only sector which is not regulated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The establishment of a Transatlantic Common Aviation Area (TCAA) needs to follow common approaches on a range of regulatory issues: a major issue will be the application of EU competition rules and US antitrust laws. This paper discusses the obstacles which the air transport industry faces when it will move from the current restrictive framework to a free regime, as shaped by the WTO/GATS, and provides a broad view on the Transatlantic Common Aviation Area (TCAA) initiatives in air navigation, highlighting legal lessons learned in the frame of the "modernization of the European Airspace". navigation, highlighting legal lessons learned in the frame of the "modernization of the European Airspace".