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Freedoms of the Air
First Freedom:- The right to fly over another country without landing.
Second Freedom:- The right to make a landing for technical reasons (e.g.refuelling) in another country without picking up/setting down revenue traffic.
Third Freedom:- The right to carry revenue traffic from your own country (A) to the country (B) of your treaty partner.
Fourth Freedom:- The right to carry traffic from country B back to your own country A.
Fifth Freedom:- The right of an airline from country A to carry revenue traffic between country B and other countries such as C or D on services starting or ending in its home country A (This freedom cannot be used unless countries C or D also agree)
Sixth Freedom:- The use by an airline of country A of the two sets of Third and Fourth Freedom rights to carry traffic between two other countries but using its base at A as a transit point.
Seventh Freedom:- The right of an airline to carry revenue traffic between points in two countries on services which lie entirely outside its own home country.
Eight Freedom:- or cabotage rights. The right for an airline to pick up and set down passengers or freight between two domestic points in another country on a service originating in its own home country.
Sixth Freedom rights are rarely dealt with explicitly in air services agreements but may be referred to implicitly in memoranda of understanding attached to the agreement. In the application of many bilaterals there is also de facto acceptance of such rights.
Seventh Freedom rights are granted only in very rare cases.
| Acronym | Long Name |
| AACO | Arab Air Carriers Organisation |
| ADM | Agency Debit Memo |
| AEA | Association of European Airlines |
| AGM | Annual General Meeting |
| AIS | Aviation Intelligence Services or Amadeus Information System |
| APIS | Advance Passenger Information Systems |
| ARC | Airlines Reporting Corporation |
| ARI | Amadeus Revenue Integrity |
| ARIG | Airline Revenue Integrity Group |
| ASM | Available Seat Miles |
| ATA | Air Transport Association of America |
| ATIS | Automatic Terminal Information Service |
| ATOL | Air Travel Organisers' Licensing |
| ATPCO | Airline Tariff Publishing Company |
| BAR(UK) | Board of Airline Representatives |
| BIDT | Billing Information Data Tape |
| BSP | Billing and Settlement Plan |
| CAA | Civil Aviation Authority |
| CAC | Amadeus Commercial Advisory Committee |
| CARDS | Committee for Airline Reservations Distribution Systems |
| CASMA | Computerised Airline Sales and Marketing Association |
| CAT 1,2 etc | Rule categories |
| CRS | Computer Reservation System |
| DCS | Departure Control System |
| ECAC | European Civil Aviation Conference |
| EDIFACT | Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport |
| EMD | Electronic Miscellaneous Document |
| ERA | European Regional Airlines Association |
| ERSP | Electronic Reservations Service Providers |
| ET/ E-TKT/ E-TKTG | Electronic Ticket/ Electronic Ticketing |
| ETTL | Enforced Ticketing Time Limit |
| FIM | Flight Interruption Manifest |
| FLIFO | Flight Information |
| FOID | Form of Identification |
| GDS | Global Distribution System |
| GNE | Global New Entrants |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| IATA | International Air Transport Association |
| ICAO | International Civil Aviation Organisation |
| IET | Interline E-ticket |
| MCO | Miscellaneous Charges Order |
| MCT | Minimum Connecting Time |
| MFQ | Mandatory Fare Quote |
| MIDT | Marketing Information Data Tapes |
| OAG | Official Airline Guide |
| OMB | Office of Management Budget |
| PCA | Participating Carrier Agreement |
| PNR | Passenger Name Record |
| POS | Point of Sale |
| RBD | Reservations/Bookings Designator |
| REA | Refund Exchange Authorisation |
| SSM | Standard Schedule Messages |
| SSIM | Standard Schedules Information Manual |
| SSR | Special Service Request |
| TOD | Ticket on Departure |
| UATP | Universal Air Travel Plan |
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Definitions of common air transport terms |
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Aircraft kilometers |
are the distances flown by aircraft. An aircraft's total flying is obtained by |
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multiplying the number of flights performed on each flight stage by the |
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stage distance. |
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Aircraft utilisation |
is the average number of block hours that each aircraft is in use. This is |
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generally measured on a daily or annual basis. |
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Available seat-kilometres |
(ASKs) are obtained by multiplying the number of seats available for sale |
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on each flight stage by flight stage distance. |
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Available tonne-kilometres |
(ATKs) are obtained by multiplying the number of tonnes of capacity |
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available for carriage of passengers and cargo on each sector of a flight |
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by the stage distance. |
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Average aircraft capacity |
is obtained by dividing an airline's total available tonne-kilometres (ATKs) by |
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aircraft kilometres flown. |
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Average stage length |
is obtained by dividing an airline's total aircraft kilometres flown in a year |
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by the number of aircraft departures; it is the weighted average of stage/ |
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sector lenghths flown by an aircraft. |
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Block time (hours) |
is the time for each flight stage or sector, measured from when the |
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aircraft leaves the airport gate or stand (chocks off) to when it arrives on the |
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gate or stand at the destination airport (chocks on). It can also be |
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calculated from the moment an aircraft moves under its own power until |
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it comes to rest at its destination. |
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Break-even load factor (%) |
is the load factor required to equate traffic revenue with operating costs. |
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Code sharing |
is when two or more airlines use their own flight codes or a common code |
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on a flight operated by one of them. |
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Flight or cockpit crew |
refers to the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer if any. |
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Freight tonne-kilometres |
(FTKs) are obtained by multiplying the tonnes of freight uplifted by the |
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sector distances over which they have been flown. They are a measure of |
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an airline's cargo traffic. |
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Freight yields |
are obtained by dividing the total revenue from scheduled freight by the |
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freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) produced (often expressed in US cents |
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per FTK). |
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Grandfather rights |
is the convention by which airlines retain the right to use particular take-off |
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and landing slot times at an airport because they have done so previously |
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and continuously. |
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Interlining |
is the accpetance by one airline of travel of travel documents issued by |
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another airline for carriage on the services of the first airline. An interline |
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passenger is one using a through fare for a journey involving two or more |
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separate airlines. |
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Online passenger |
is one who transfers from one flight to another but on the same airline. |
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Operating costs per ATK |
is a measure obtained by dividing total operating costs by total ATKs. |
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Operating costs excludes interest payments, taxes and extraordinary |
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items. The can also be measured per RTK. |
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Operating ratio (%) |
is the operating revenue expressed as a percentage of operating costs. |
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Sometimes referred to as Revex Ratio. |
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Passenger-kilometres |
(RPKs) are obtained by multiplying the number of fare paying passengers |
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on each flight stage by flight stage distance. They are a measure of an |
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airline's passenger traffic. |
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Passenger load factor (%) |
is passenger-kilometres (RPKs) expressed as a percentage of available |
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seats kilometres (ASKs) (on a single sector, this is simplified to the number |
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of passengers carried as a percentage of seats available for sale. |
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Revenue tonne-kilometres |
(RTKs) measure the output actually sold. They are obtained by multiplying |
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the total number of tonnes of passengers and cargo carried on each flight |
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stage distance (Revenue Passenger Kms are normally converted to revenue |
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tonne-kms on a standard basis of 90 kg average weight, including free and |
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excess baggage, akthough this has been increased recently by some |
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airlines, e.g. British Airways have increased the average weight from 90kg |
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to 95kg, as a result of a CAA directive. |
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Seat factor or passenger |
on a single sector is obtained by expressing the passengers carried as a |
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load factor. |
percentage of the seats available for sale; on a network of routes it is obtained |
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by expressing the total passenger-kms (RPKs) as a percentage of the |
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total seat-kms available (ASKs). |
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Seat pitch |
is the standard way of measuring seat density on an aircraft. It is the |
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distance between the back of ane seat and the same point on the back of |
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the seat in front. |
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Scheduled passenger |
is the average revenue per passenger kilometre and is obtained by |
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yields |
dividing the total passenger revenue by the total passenger kilometres. |
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This can be done by flight route or for the network. |
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Slot |
at an airport is the right to operate one take-off or landing at that airport |
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within a fixed time period. |
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Stage or sector distance |
should be the air route or flying distance between two airports. In practice |
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many airlines use the great circle distance which is shorter. |
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Weight load factor |
measures the proportion of available capacity actually sold. It is the |
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revenue tonne kilometres performed expressed as percentage of available |
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tonne kilometres (also called overall load factor) |
