Слике страница
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

On August 21, 1978, President Carter issued a statement setting forth United States policy for the conduct of international air transportation negotiations, which had been designed to provide both maximum consumer benefit and profitable industry operations, through expansion, rather than restriction, of competitive opportunities between airlines in a free international air marketplace. The statement read:

INTRODUCTION

United States international air transportation policy is designed to provide the greatest possible benefit to travelers and shippers. Our primary aim is furthering the maintenance and continued development of affordable, safe, convenient, efficient, and environmentally acceptable air services. Our policy for negotiating civil air transport agreements reflects our national goals in international air transportation. This policy provides a set of general objectives, designed particularly for major international air markets, on the basis of which United States negotiators can develop specific negotiating strategies.

Maximum consumer benefits can be best achieved through the preservation and extension of competition between airlines in a fair marketplace. Reliance on competitive market forces to the greatest extent possible in our international air transportation agreements will allow the public to receive improved service at low costs that reflect economically efficient operations. Competition and low prices are also fully compatible with a prosperous U.S. air transport industry and our national defense, foreign policy, international commerce, and energy efficiency objectives.

Bilateral aviation agreements, like other international agreements, should serve the interests of both parties. Other countries have an interest in the economic prosperity of their airline industries, as we do in the prosperity of ours. The United States believes this interest is best served by a policy of expansion of competitive

opportunity rather than restriction. By offering more services to the public, in a healthy and fair competitive environment, the international air transport industry can stimulate the growth in traffic which contributes both to profitable industry operations and to maximum public benefits.

GOALS OF U.S. INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION POLICY

The United States will work to achieve a system of international air transportation that places its principal reliance on actual and potential competition to determine the variety, quality, and price of air service. An essential means for carrying out our international air transportation policy will be to allow greater competitive opportunities for U.S. and foreign airlines and to promote new lowcost transportation options for travelers and shippers. Especially in major international air transport markets, there can be substantial benefits for travelers, shippers, airlines, and labor from increasing competitive opportunities and reducing protectionist restrictions. Increasing opportunities for U.S. flag transportation to and from the United States will contribute to the development of our foreign commerce, assure that more airlift resources are available for our defense needs, and promote and expand productivity and job opportunities in our international air transport industry.

TRANSLATING GOALS INTO NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES

United States international air transportation policy cannot be implemented unilaterally. Our objectives have to be achieved in the system of international agreements that form the basic framework for the international air transportation system.

Routes, prices, capacity, scheduled and charter rules, and competition in the marketplace are interrelated, not isolated problems to be resolved independently. Thus, the following objectives will be presented in negotiations as an integrated U.S. position:

1. creation of new and greater opportunities for innovative and competitive pricing that will encourage and permit the use of new price and service options to meet the needs of different travelers and shippers,

2. liberalization of charter rules and elimination of restrictions on charter operations,

3. expansion of scheduled service through elimination of restrictions on capacity, frequency, and route and operating rights,

4. elimination of discrimination and unfair competitive practices faced by U.S. airlines in international transportation,

5. flexibility to designate multiple U.S. airlines in international air markets,

6. encouragement of maximum traveler and shipper access to international markets by authorizing more cities for nonstop or direct service, and by improving the integration of domestic and international airline services, and

7. flexibility to permit the development and facilitation of competitive air cargo services.

EXPLANATION OF OBJECTIVES

1. Pricing. The United States will develop new bilateral procedures to encourage a more competitive system for establishing scheduled air fares and rates. Charter pricing must continue to be competitive. Fares, rates, and prices should be determined by individual airlines based primarily on competitive considerations in the marketplace. Governmental regulation should not be more than the minimum necessary to prevent predatory or discriminatory practices, to protect consumers from the abuse of monopoly position, or to protect competitors from prices that are artificially low because of direct or indirect governmental subsidy or support. Reliance on competition and encouragement of pricing based on commercial considerations in the marketplace provides the best means of assuring that the needs of consumers will be met and that prices will be as low as possible, given the costs of providing efficient air service.

2. Charters. The introduction of charters acted as a major catalyst to the expansion of international air transportation in the 1960's. Charters are a competitive spur and exert downward pressure on the pricing of scheduled services. Charters generate new traffic and help stimulate expansion in all sectors of the industry. Restrictions which have been imposed on the volume, frequency, and regularity of charter services as well as requirements for approval of individual charter flights have restrained the growth of traffic and tourism and do not serve the interests of either party to an aviation agreement. Strong efforts will be made to obtain liberal charter provisions in bilateral agreements.

3. Scheduled Services. We will seek to increase the freedom of airlines from capacity and frequency restrictions. We will also work to maintain or increase the route and operating rights of our airlines where such actions improve international route systems and offer the consumer more convenient and efficient air transportation.

4. Discrimination and Unfair Competitive Practices. U.S. airlines must have the flexibility to conduct operations and market their services in a manner consistent with a fair and equal opportunity to compete with the airlines of other nations. We will insist that U.S. airlines have the business, commercial, and operational opportunities to compete fairly. The United States will seek to eliminate unfair or destructive competitive practices that prevent U.S. airlines from competing on an equal basis with the airlines of other nations. Charges for providing airway and airport properties and facilities should be related to the costs due to airline operations and should not discriminate against U.S. airlines. These objectives were recognized by the Congress in legislation enacted in 1975, and their attainment is required if consumers, airlines, and employees are to obtain the benefits of an otherwise competitive international aviation system.

5. Multiple Airline Designations. The designation of new U.S. airlines in international markets that will support additional service is a way to create a more competitive environment and thus encourage improved service and competition pricing. Privately owned airlines have traditionally been the source of innovation and competi

tion in international aviation, and it is therefore particularly important to preserve for the United States the right of multiple designation.

6. Maximum Access to International Markets. Increasing the number of gateway cities for nonstop or direct air service offers the potential for increasing the convenience of air transportation for passengers and shippers and improving routing and market opportunities for international airlines. In addition, enhancing the integration of U.S. airline domestic and international air services benefits both consumers and airlines.

7. Cargo Services. We will seek the opportunity for the full development of cargo services. Frequent demand for such services requires special equipment and routes. Cargo services should be permitted to develop freely as trade expands. Also important in the development of cargo services are improved facilitation, including customs clearance, integration of surface and air movements, and flexibility in ground support services.

NEGOTIATING PRINCIPLES

The guiding principle of U.S. aviation negotiating policy will be to trade competitive opportunities, rather than restrictions, with our negotiating partners. We will aggressively pursue our interests in expanded air transportation and reduced prices rather than accept the self-defeating accommodation of protectionism. Our concessions in negotiations will be given in return for progress toward competitive objectives, and these concessions themselves will be of a liberalizing character.

Proposed bilateral agreements which do not meet our minimum competitive objectives will not be signed without prior Presidential approval.

Weekly Comp. of Pres. Docs., Vol. 14, No. 34, Aug. 28, 1978, pp. 1462–1465. The definitive statement of policy announced by the President was substantially identical with a proposed statement issued for public comment by Brock Adams, Secretary of Transportation, on May 19, 1978, except that the proposed statement had not included air cargo services. In addition to submitting written comments, the public was invited to participate in hearings on the proposed statement, which was the work product of an inter-agency group composed of the Depts. of State, Transportation, Commerce, Defense, and Justice, and the Office of Management and Budget, the Council on Wage and Price Stability, the Domestic Policy Staff, and the Council of Economic Advisers.

Fed. Reg., Vol. 43, No. 101, May 24, 1978, pp. 22262–22263.

Earlier in 1978, on January 18, Richard N. Cooper, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and Chairman of the Inter-Agency Aviation Policy Committee, had spoken before the International Aviation Club in Washington about United States international aviation negotiating initiatives in a time of technological change, and discussed the principles characterizing United States negotiating policy. Excerpts from his address follow:

The enduring objective of the United States in international aviation is to serve the national interest in efficient, reliable air service; in a viable U.S. carrier industry; and in a regime of fair rules and expanding competitive opportunity for both U.S. and foreign carriers. These objectives parallel our goals in foreign commerce generally: We seek to remove unnecessary restrictions; to enlarge the possibilities of competition; and to maximize the benefits of competition for the consuming public, industry, and labor.

These generalities have, in recent months, taken on a new and specific form. New entry and price competition among carriers in the North Atlantic has resulted in substantial fare reductions and in extraordinary range of opportunities for travelers of ordinary means. Decisions by the Civil Aeronautics Board and the President have encouraged innovations and low fares in scheduled service and liberalized the rules for charters.

FORCES BEHIND RECENT CHANGES

In recent years, the main economic problems of international aviation have been too many empty seats and, on many routes, unduly high rates. The problems have reinforced each other. High rates have reduced the growth of travel, while empty seats have produced losses and the impetus to raise rates even higher. In the world of theoretical economics, this circle would be broken by competitive fare reductions. But the real world of international aviation is not the theorist's model of perfect competition. In some areas of the world, low load factors have led, at times, to rebating rather than to lower authorized fares. In other areas, fare reduction and innovation have not been seen as in the interests of governments or carriers. And some countries have not permitted the liberal charter operations which act as a spur to competition among scheduled carriers.

On North Atlantic routes, these barriers to competition have been partially overcome by market forces. The demand for low-cost travel is enormous. . . . This demand for nonbusiness travel created the charter industry, led to scheduled fare innovations, and in recent months has made possible active price competition on the North Atlantic.

While the marketplace has been changing so have public and official views about the proper role of regulation in the aviation industry. For domestic aviation, there has been increasing agreement that regulation should be modified to allow substantially greater freedom for new entry and price competition. The problems of international aviation, though in ways more complex, are broadly similar. In the past, nations have avowed two basic reasons for restricting entry, operating rights, and price competition in international aviation. They have viewed the entire international aviation system as what economists call an "infant industry," needing the nurture of government for its survival and growth. And in particular, they have promoted national flag carriers, and protected them from competition, as a means of serving broad political as well as economic goals.

« ПретходнаНастави »