News and Events

October

10/2 – “In-Motion: Legal and Social Dynamics of Moving People, Goods, Data, and Services Worldwide” Frankfurt, Germany

Prof. Brian Havel delivered a talk entitled, “A Sea Change in Open Skies: Globalization, Ownership, and Market Survival in the Logistics Industry” as part of the 2009 Interlaw Annual Global Meeting held in Frankfurt, Germany. Prof. Havel’s remarks were based in part on his forthcoming study, “A ‘Lead Sector’ Strategy for the GATS: Express Delivery Services as a Model for Global Air Transport Reform.” In his speech, Prof. Havel called attention to how international and trade lawyers can make meaningful intellectual contributions to freeing the express delivery and logistics industry from its current global regulatory restraints.

September

9/25 – “Course Correction: Strategies for Changing Times” Chicago, Illinois

Gabriel Sanchez, the Institute’s FedEx/United Airlines Resident Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor, participated in a panel on recent economic and regulatory challenges to airports during the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Air & Space Law. The meeting, which was organized in part by IALI’s Director, Prof. Brian Havel, also took time to recognize DePaul University College of Law students who are currently enrolled in the Institute’s International Aviation Law course. The students were able to participate in the day’s events free of charge due to a generous donation by Airbus Americas, Inc.

9/14 – A Conversation with Robert L. Crandall

Today, the International Aviation Law Institute conducted the third interview in the series, “Conversations with Aviation Leaders,” IALI's oral history project on airline deregulation. IALI's distinguished guest for the interview was Robert L. “Bob” Crandall, former President and Chairman of American Airlines. Crandall led American Airlines through the turbulent period following deregulation to become one of the largest and most successful air carriers in U.S. history. While initially opposed to airline deregulation, Crandall nevertheless found ways to help American thrive in the new competitive landscape by harnessing yield management to better price seats in relation to their value, developing the first frequent flier program, and launching the Sabre computer reservation system. Though he retired from American in 1998, Crandall remains a strong voice in the airline industry. His speech calling for re-regulation of the airline industry at the Wings Club in Washington, D.C. last year drew considerable attention and prompted Michael Levine, one the intellectual architects of deregulation, to answer Crandall's charges that deregulation amounts to a policy failure. (Both speeches were reprinted in Vol. 8, Issue 1 of IALI's journal, Issues in Aviation Law and Policy.)

Crandall's interlocutor for the event was former U.S. Ambassador and current IALI Advisory Board Member J.D. Bindenagel. Bindenagel, who participated in the negotiations for the U.S./Germany open skies treaty, covered a broad range of topics during his three-hour conversation with Crandall. The dialogue reflected such diverse issues as the political and social circumstances leading up to deregulation, business strategies in a competitive market, and the current state of the U.S. domestic and international airline industry. In addition to offering his own experiences of some of the key events leading up to and following deregulation, Crandall spoke candidly about what he sees as the failure of the U.S. to establish a coherent transportation policy which includes aviation. During the course of the discussion, Crandall also criticized the open skies policy, airline alliances, and the suggestion that there should be increased foreign investment in U.S. carriers.

9/4 – Havel on the World Trade Organization’s Airbus Ruling

Prof. Brian Havel’s comments on the World Trade Organization’s landmark ruling on illegal State subsidies provided to European aircraft manufacturer Airbus was featured in a number of news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and the French edition of the online magazine Slate. In the stories, Havel stated that the ruling appeared to be a big win on paper for Airbus’ chief rival, Boeing, but that the appeals process likely would continue until 2013. Havel also noted that most WTO rulings tend to be “squishy” and more open to varying interpretations than decisions handed down by courts in the United States and European Union.

August

8/25 – Academic Program

For the Fall semester, Gabriel Sanchez, the Institute’s FedEx/United Airlines Resident Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor, is teaching the course International Aviation Law to the College of Law’s J.D. and LL.M. students. As in past semesters, the course explores the laws, regulations, and policy choices affecting the complex world of global air transport. Particular emphasis is paid to the intellectual and economic history of deregulation and trade liberalization in air services along with the legal framework erected to both help and hinder the deregulatory process.

May

5/27 – IALI at Beijing Aviation Conference

Faculty and associates of the International Aviation Law Institute participated in the “Key Issues in International Aviation Law” Conference held in Beijing, China on May 27, 2009. Co-hosted and organized by DePaul University College of Law's Asian Legal Studies Institute and the BeiHang University School of Law, the conference covered topics ranging from anti-monopoly issues to the militarization of outer space.

IALI Co-Director, Prof. Michael Jacobs, gave a welcoming address and spoke on the status and background of the expansive air cargo price-fixing conspiracy which has resulted in record fines being assessed against a number of major international air carriers by authorities in China, the United States, and the European Union. Jacobs, an internationally recognized expert on antitrust and competition law, has recently written on this subject for the Institute's journal, Issues in Aviation Law and Policy.

Also speaking at the Conference was Institute Advisory Board member Sandra Chiu, Principal at the Center for Aviation Policy & Economics and former Director of International Affairs at United Airlines. Chiu offered thoughts on the future of U.S./China aviation relations and the prospects of establishing an open skies agreement between two of the world's leading economic powers.

In addition, the Conference featured a presentation on the regulation/deregulation of the Brazilian air transport sector by Prof. Respico A. Espirito Santo, Jr., President of the Brazilian Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policies in Air Transport. A number of Prof. Santo's studies in this area have appeared in Issues in Aviation Law and Policy.

5/7 – IALI Welcomes U.K. Transport Minister Geoff Hoon

On May 7, the International Aviation Law Institute hosted a visit by U.K. Secretary of State for Transport Geoff Hoon and a group of his associates for a free-ranging discussion of the future of international air transport liberalization. Secretary of State Hoon, who spoke earlier this week to the International Aviation Club in Washington, D.C., on U.S./EC aviation relations, shared his thoughts with the Institute on how the United States can work with its European partners to establish a sustainable policy for aviation carbon emissions. While optimistic that the Obama Administration is open to a cap-and-trade system comparable to the EC's Emissions Trading Scheme, Mr. Hoon recognized that progress on the issue thus far has been slow. Further discussion took place on certain protectionist elements of the pending 2009 FAA Reauthorization Act that may adversely impact the ongoing negotiations for a second stage U.S./EC Air Transport Agreement. Institute Director Brian F. Havel, whose recently published book, Beyond Open Skies: A New Regime for International Aviation, proposes an authentic globalization of the air transport industry within the framework of the U.S./EC Agreement, indicated that the worldwide economic crisis must abate before foreign ownership caps and cabotage can be dismantled. In his view, protectionist impulses will fill a vacuum in U.S. aviation policy at least until we learn how the Obama Administration will approach air transport issues.

At the end of the discussion, Professor Havel presented a copy of his new book to Mr. Hoon. The International Aviation Law Institute expresses its appreciation to the Secretary of State and his associates, as well as to the Office of the U.K. Consul General in Chicago, for arranging and participating in this timely exchange on the leading international issues affecting aviation law and policy.

March

3/27 – German Marshall Fund Launches Beyond Open Skies

Prof. Brian Havel's new book, Beyond Open Skies: A New Regime for International Aviation (Kluwer Law International, 2009), was officially launched at a luncheon hosted by the German Marshall Fund in Washington, D.C. on March 27. The event, entitled "Transatlantic Aviation: Can We Move Beyond Open Skies?" was attended by more than 100 academics, government officials, aviation lawyers, and industry leaders. Introducing the book and delivering an address on the future of U.S./EC aviation relations was Ambassador John Bruton, former Prime Minister of Ireland and current European Union Ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Bruton took time to comment on the recently proposed 2009 FAA Reauthorization Act and its potential to hinder the ongoing negotiations for a second stage U.S./EC Air Transport Agreement. He exhorted the mainly American audience to remember the free market principles for aviation that the U.S. had helped export to the world and to stay true to them, even in tough econmic times. With Prof. Havel serving as moderator, Ambassador Bruton also fielded questions from the audience on legal developments concerning aviation in Europe, including noise restrictions at Community airports, the European Commission's proposal to temporarily suspend the "use or lose" slot rule, and the controversial plan to bring aviation into the EC's emissions trading scheme.

Beyond Open Skies offers a systematic comparative analysis of the legal and policy dimensions of airline deregulation by federal fiat in the United States and by supranational collaboration in the European Union. The book draws upon a variety of sources, including very recent developments in U.S. and EC international aviation law, policy, and diplomacy, to propose a genuine multilateral air transport system. It examines the potential of the "open skies" initiative, in the aftermath of the 2007 U.S./EC Air Transport Agreement, to inspire a genuine globalization of the world’s air transport industry.

Those interested in purchasing the book may do so online at the Wolters Kluwer website.

3/4 – Paul Fitzgerald Visits the Institute

Paul Fitzgerald, former Senior Policy Advisor for the Canadian Minister of Transport and Adjunct Professor at McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law, gave a riveting lecture to Prof. Gabriel Sanchez’s Public International Aviation Law class. Focusing on government interference in the airline industry, Prof. Fitzgerald cast critical light on Canada’s “passenger rights” regulations, inefficiencies in airport safety measures, and the incongruence of recently proposed federal legislation targeting antitrust immunity for international airline alliances with the U.S.’s “Open Skies” international air transport policy.

February

2/27 – New Publication

A new study on the International Air Transport Association authored by Prof. Brian Havel and the Institute’s FedEx/United Airlines Resident Research Fellow, Gabriel Sanchez, will be included in the forthcoming Handbook of Transnational Economic Governance (Christian Tietje & Alan Brouder eds., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009).

2/8 – "Fasten Your Seatbelts: Practicing Law in Turbulent Times" Bangkok, Thailand

Prof. Brian Havel participated as a competition law panelist and keynote speaker at the International Air Transport Association’s prestigious 2009 Legal Symposium. In his keynote address, Prof. Havel discussed the economic and regulatory challenges facing the aviation industry. In highlighting the industry's continuing capacity to innovate business models and influence transnational air transport liberalization, he defended the continued importance of aviation as an area of serious academic study.

January

1/5 – New Course

Gabriel Sanchez, the Institute’s FedEx/United Airlines Resident Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor, began offering a new course on Public International Aviation Law in the College of Law. The course explores the laws, regulations, and policy choices affecting the complex world of global air transport and considers such topics as air traffic rights, aviation safety and security, economic regulation of airlines, and the dynamics of the 2007 U.S./EC Air Transport Agreement. The transnational scope of the course covers not only the primary international legal instruments which shape civil aviation worldwide, but also includes comparative analyses of U.S. and EU approaches to air transport liberalization.