The Need for Regional Liberalization: The Issue of Damascus Agreement of 2004

Citation: Shadi A. Alshdaifat and Bashar H. Malkawi (2018) The Need for Regional Liberalization: The Issue of Damascus Agreement of 2004. HARMONISING REGULATORY AND ANTITRUST REGIMES FOR INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT (RSS)
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Tagged: Business (RSS)

Summary

Arab airlines have attracted attention in the last two decades for their huge growth and expansion worldwide. The air transport sector in the Arab world deals with problems of safety, security and economic protection of national airline industries. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the 2004 Damascus Agreement which covers fundamental principles of liberalisation, including market access, ownership and control of airlines as well as fair competition. It also presents the relation between the Damascus Agreement and international conventions. Moreover, the aim of this paper is to study the Damascus Agreement in depth and identify its impact on air service liberalisation in the Arab aviation industry. The paper attempts to answer the question as to how this agreement functions in practice and whether it needs restructuring. The paper is divided into the following sections. The first section provides the GDP of the Arab airline sector and its impact on employment in Arab states. The second section constitutes an analysis of the legal provisions of the 2004 Damascus Agreement. Finally, the paper gives a set of conclusions and recommendations.