ABSTRACT
Air transport relations between Australia and New Zealand were formalised in 1961 in an air services agreement which promised ‘to foster the development of air travel, particularly in the South Pacific, as a means of promoting international understanding and goodwill’. The contents of the agreement were, by and large, typical of most other air services agreements of the time, which included a reference to the International Civil Aviation Convention 1944 and its basic provisions on matters such as technical stopovers (repairs, fuelling, etc) and, more interestingly, a comprehensive provision for the substantial ownership and effective control of airlines by nationals of the contracting parties, routes, the regulation of fares and the capacity to be provided over a period of time. The detailed nature of these provisions reflects the protectionist approach to the regulation of international air transport in the early days of the Chicago Convention. Much has, of course, changed since then. Increasingly liberal air services agreements, such as ‘open skies’ agreements, are more common and acceptable than they used to be. Regionalisation of international politics and economics has also forced countries towards more co-operative arrangements. Even so, where this is the case, the passage is seldom plain sailing. The Single Aviation Market of Australia and New Zealand (SAMANZ) is no exception. Indeed, there remain some protectionist practices even between countries with purportedly liberal air transport policies. The failure of the UK and the US to agree a new air services agreement (the Bermuda Agreement), despite many years of negotiations, is indicative not only of the prevalence of protectionism in the modern liberal global economy, but also of the deep-seated mercantilist disposition in respect of international air transport.
