Legal Developments in International Civil Aviation

The legal framework for international civil aviation rights dates back to the 1919
Convention for the Regulation of Aerial Navigation (Paris Convention), which was
a part of the Paris Peace Conference. 1 The hallmark aviation principle recognized by
the Paris Convention is that every nation has absolute and exclusive sovereignty over
the airspace above its defined territory. 2 This principle was reaffirmed in 1944 at the
Chicago International Civil Aviation Conference, which produced the Chicago
Convention. 3 The Chicago Convention resulted in an international framework based
largely on national interests, favoring bilateral air transport agreements over
multilateral accords with respect to issues such as routes, frequency and capacity. 4
The Chicago Convention’s accomplishments included an agreement by the
signatories to grant each other two of the so-called “five freedoms” of air transport, 5
specifically, the right to fly across other states without landing and the right to land
for nontraffic purposes. In addition, the Chicago Convention established the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to regulate the safety,
communications, and technological aspects of international civil aviation. 6
Since the Chicago Convention, international civil aviation rights have developed
primarily through a series of bilateral agreements between the United States and
1 Convention for the Regulation of Aerial Navigation, Oct. 13, 1919, Art. 1, 11 L.N.T.S.
173, 190.