ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the multilateral liberalisation of passenger air transport services in Asia, involving like-minded states within a particular region that purportedly share a common interest in liberalising the airline industry. In contrast to conventional bilateral air services agreements, multilateral arrangements herald the promise of an enlarged common market among the participating state parties. Hence, market access for the state parties’ airlines is typically relaxed, although a more cautious stance is often adopted for ownership and control rules. As has been demonstrated in the European Union (EU), the more advanced forms of multilateral liberalisation can create a truly common or single aviation market that not only enlarges the market within but also unites the parties’ negotiating positions to wield greater bargaining power vis-à-vis external states or blocs.
