Towards ‘open skies’

In January 1977 Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia, became President of the United States. The Carter administration set off a chain of events which, over the next 30 years, was to gradually transform international air transport from a closeted and highly protected industry into a business that is more truly competitive and open. The transformation is not complete, but the process of change should be largely finalised during the first decade of the twenty-first century. Any attempt to understand the workings of the international airline business must start with an appreciation of the changing regulatory environment within which it operates.