UK Civil Aviation Authority analysts believe there is a strong case for relaxing ownership and control regulations for airlines because the main objections to such a move could be overcome.
The CAA has released a discussion document - Ownership and Control Liberalisation - in which it says concerns over safety, non-reciprocity and regulatory convergence need not obstruct the lifting of constraints on airline control.
Ownership has become a high-profile issue in the USA, where the Department of Transportation is trying to revise the rules on foreign involvement in airlines - and where major US carriers have fiercely contested the ownership status of start-up Virgin America.
Alex Plant, the CAA's head of economic policy and international aviation, says the regulator "felt it was the right time to seek an objective view of the various issues - the arguments stack up firmly in favour of a change".
Increased safety risk has been the most powerful argument against liberalising ownership in the air transport sector, says Plant, but the CAA analysis suggests this could be mitigated by "selective liberalisation". This would require prospective new members of an "open aviation area" to demonstrate - probably through an audit - a level of safety compliance equal to that of existing members.
"Such an approach has a dual benefit," says the CAA document. "In addition to increasing the pressure for high safety standards for airlines operating within the group, the presence of such a strict requirement should incentivise higher safety standards within candidate countries and airlines wishing to gain access to an expanded open aviation area."
Source: Flight International
