Competition and Investment in Air Transport: Legal and Economic Issues

This book addresses emergent legal and economic issues in competition and investment in air transport against the backdrop of the role governments and airlines should play in avoiding protectionism and encouraging innovation and creativity. It evaluates current trends in air transport and the direction the industry is taking in the twenty first century.

There are discussions on key aspects of air transport such as assurance of safety and environmental protection as they are impacted by competition. The rapid evolution of aerospace transport and its effect on competition in air transport are also discussed. A recurring theme of the book is the influence on air transport of creative destruction and disruptive innovation. This theme is addressed through an in depth study of the contentious areas at law relating to abuse of dominant position and State aid, as reflected in the ongoing claim by the three largest carriers of the United States – that Gulf carriers such as Emirates Airlines, Etihad and Qatar Airways. The US carriers claim that the two Gulf carriers (Emirates and Etihad) – which are operating air services into the United States by virtue of an open skies agreement between the United States and The United Arab Emirates - are using generous subsidies given to them by their governments, to illegally capture the “legitimate” market that belongs to the US carriers.

These issues are unravelled in the book through analyses of competition law and investment law as they apply to air transport, analogies of free trade agreements and a case study of open skies.