IATA deplores slow pace of air transport liberalization

IATA deplores slow pace of air transport liberalization    Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said governments have failed to follow up on liberalization principles agreed last year within the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
   Referring to the Worldwide Air Transport Conference hosted in March 2003 by the inter-governmental group ICAO, which produced a global framework to liberalize air transport, Bisignani told the McGill University aviation conference in Montreal Saturday that ICAO member states at the conference gave “a clear vision of a liberalized industry.”
   “The Air Transport Conference Five last year moved us towards this goal,” Bisignani said. “But the lack of follow-up is disappointing. I don’t see any relevant changes to national legislation.”
   In particular, Bisignani said stalled U.S.-EU talk on an open aviation area “was a great lost opportunity.”
   However, airlines “desperately need” the freedom to run their businesses without restrictive agreements, he argued.
   Speaking days before government representatives within ICAO meet in Montreal, Bisignani called for a “significant change like the open aviation area to kick-start the stepped process to liberalization that was agreed 18 months ago.”
   ICAO will hold the 35th session of its assembly at the organization’s headquarters in Montreal Sept. 28-Oct. 8. Delegates from 188 contracting states will meet to review ICAO’s activities over the past three years and discuss issues such as aviation safety, security, protection of the environment and the liberalization of the air transport industry.