South Korea, long considered a non-starter in US efforts to forge open skies in Asia, is hinting that it may yet join the party, but Seoul's insistence on preconditions is likely to sit awkwardly in Washington.
A Korean transport ministry official says his country is willing to sign an open skies pact but only if Washington eliminates practices which disadvantage Korean Airlines and Asiana and agrees to at least two preconditions.
Korea was attempting to arrange a May meeting with US negotiators at presstime. The move came in early April just as the US officially signed the open skies agreement with Singapore - the first such pact in Asia. Similar deals have already been initialled with Taiwan and Brunei, and Malaysia and Thailand are expected to follow suit within the next few months.
The Korean transport official appears upbeat about the prospects of a deal but only if the US is prepared to compromise. 'The two countries will be able to hammer out an agreement depending on the US response to our preconditions.' He warns the US would have to 'stop its occasional unfair treatment of Korean carriers in return for Korea throwing its support behind the US international initiative.'
The official says unfair practices by Washington include either delaying the renewal of traffic rights, or renewing Korean carriers' right to serve US destinations for a shorter period of time than agreed under the existing bilateral.
And he insists the US will have to drop conditions pertaining to beyond rights and 'wet lease' arrangements. The latter is a US proposal which would allow its carriers to wet lease their aircraft and crew to other foreign operators serving Seoul. This would disadvantage Korean airlines by allowing foreign carriers which serve Korean routes but lack rights beyond Seoul to go ahead and fly to other destinations, argues the official. The ministry fears such wet-leasing arrangements would ramp up competition and adversely affect Korean Airlines and Asiana, leading to the two local operators sustaining losses in their key east Asian markets.
Korea is also demanding a limit to seventh freedom rights for US carriers with change-of-gauge rights which allow them to operate 'shuttle flights' between Seoul and other destinations in Asia. 'For instance, a US carrier already operates between Seoul and Detroit. If this seventh freedom is allowed, it will be able to use a B747 on this route and then use smaller planes to other destinations from Seoul like a shuttle run,' explains the official in a clear reference to Northwest Airlines.
But analysts suggest the preconditions the Koreans want to impose completely undermine the US open skies philosophy and stress that a lot of tough bargaining will have to take place before any final agreement is reached.
Source: Airline Business
