ABSTRACT
Commercial law seeks to preserve the economic freedom of markets by preventing large market players exercising undue control over supply and demand. This chapter considers some special commercial legal rules that apply to aviation and similar transport industries, such as the law of carriage, as well as considering some special features of the law of insurance that apply to aviation and the ways in which airlines acquire their most prominent assets – their aircraft. Competition law seeks to protect the economic integrity of markets. As such, much of the language of competition law – known in the USA as antitrust law– is that of economics. To assist the aviation industry with debt financing, a number of specialist financial services companies have been formed to address specific industry needs. There are two broad categories of debt financing – borrowing and leasing. The chapter explains basic types of leases.
