International air transport does not depend only on whether an airline has an aircraft, a crew, passengers and a commercial interest in operating a certain route. For an aircraft to overfly another country, land at its airport or board passengers and cargo there, the appropriate traffic rights must exist. In aviation, these rights are known as the freedoms of the air.
They are one of the fundamental concepts of international civil aviation. The freedoms of the air emerged after the Second World War, at a time when the modern system of international air transport was being established. The key framework was set by the Chicago Convention of 1944, but countries did not fully agree on how open the market should be. The United States supported a more liberal approach, while many other countries feared that larger and stronger airlines could take a dominant role in international markets. As a result, traffic rights were gradually regulated through bilateral and multilateral agreements between states.
It is important to note that the term “freedom” does not mean that an airline can automatically fly wherever it wants. The freedoms of the air apply only if they have been agreed between states. They are, in fact, the legal framework that determines what an airline may do on an international route: whether it may simply overfly a country, land there for fuel, board passengers, continue to a third country or even operate domestic flights within a foreign country.
The first freedom of the air refers to the right to overfly a foreign country without landing. It is the most basic transit right. For example, if an airline flies from one country to another and the route passes through the airspace of a third country, that overflight requires the first freedom of the air. Passengers are neither boarded nor disembarked in that third country, but the aircraft uses its airspace and air traffic control services. For that reason, countries may charge overflight fees. Although overflight rights are often taken for granted today, geopolitical crises show how important they can be. The closure of airspace can significantly lengthen routes, increase fuel consumption and affect the profitability of flights.
The second freedom of the air allows a technical landing in a foreign country, but without the commercial boarding or disembarkation of passengers, mail or cargo. Such a landing may be required for refuelling, technical inspection, maintenance, crew rest or other operational reasons. In earlier decades, the second freedom was far more important than it is today because aircraft did not have the range they have now. Many intercontinental routes included technical stops at airports located at geographically convenient points. Today it is used less often in passenger traffic, but it remains important in cargo operations, special flights and long routes where operational conditions require a stop.
The third freedom of the air allows an airline to carry passengers, mail or cargo from its home country to another country. This is one of the basic rights on which scheduled international air transport is based. For example, if a Croatian airline flies from Zagreb to Frankfurt and carries passengers from Croatia to Germany, it is using the third freedom. Without this right, the airline might technically be able to fly to another country, but it would not be allowed to commercially carry passengers or cargo from its own country to that destination.
The fourth freedom of the air complements the third and allows the carriage of passengers, mail or cargo from a foreign country back to the airline’s home country. In the previous example, a flight from Frankfurt to Zagreb operated by a Croatian airline would represent the fourth freedom. In practice, the third and fourth freedoms are almost always agreed together because both are needed for a normal return international route. When two countries negotiate basic air services between their markets, the third and fourth freedoms are usually the most important part of the agreement.
The fifth freedom of the air introduces a more complex form of international traffic. It allows an airline, on a route that begins or ends in its home country, to carry passengers or cargo between two foreign countries. For example, an airline from country A may fly from its own country to country B, then continue to country C, while also selling tickets for the sector between countries B and C. For airlines, this can be useful because it helps fill aircraft on long routes, especially when the final destination alone does not generate enough demand. On the other hand, fifth freedom rights are often politically and commercially sensitive because local airlines in countries B and C may feel that a foreign airline from a third country is taking part of their market.
The sixth freedom of the air is not officially defined in the same original framework as the first five, but it is extremely important in today’s aviation industry. It refers to the carriage of passengers or cargo between two foreign countries via the airline’s home country. For example, an airline from country A may carry passengers from country B to country C by connecting them through its main hub in country A. This is the model on which many large global air hubs have been built. Airlines from countries with a favourable geographic position often use the sixth freedom to connect continents and markets that do not have enough direct services. In practice, the sixth freedom is therefore frequently associated with major hub carriers.
The modified sixth freedom refers to a special form of transport between two points in the same foreign country, but with a stop in the airline’s home country. For example, a foreign airline may carry a passenger between two cities in another country, but via a hub in the airline’s own country. At first glance this may look like domestic transport within a foreign country, but formally it is not direct cabotage because the journey includes an international sector through the airline’s home country. Such models can be attractive in large markets, especially when they offer passengers a lower fare or better connectivity than domestic alternatives.
The seventh freedom of the air allows an airline to operate flights between two foreign countries without departing from its own country, continuing to it or having any operational link with its home market. This means that an airline from country A could open a route between countries B and C even though the route does not touch its own country. The seventh freedom is significantly more liberal than the fifth because the airline is not using the foreign route as an extension of its own international service, but is entering the market between two other countries independently. For that reason, such rights are granted less often and mostly under very open aviation agreements.
The eighth freedom of the air is linked to cabotage, the carriage of passengers or cargo between two points within the same foreign country. Under the eighth freedom, this transport takes place as part of an international route that begins or ends in the airline’s home country. For example, a foreign airline could fly from its own country to a large foreign country, make two stops there and be allowed to carry passengers between those two domestic points, if it has been expressly permitted to do so. This freedom enters the domestic market of a foreign state, which makes it sensitive and rarely granted without a specific reason.
The ninth freedom of the air is the most liberal form of traffic right and is often referred to as stand-alone cabotage. It allows a foreign airline to operate domestic flights within another country without any connection to its own country. For example, an airline from country A could fly exclusively between two cities in country B, effectively acting as a domestic carrier in that market. Countries rarely allow such a right because domestic air transport is usually considered strategically important and is often protected for national or locally based airlines. Exceptions are most often found in highly integrated markets, such as the single European aviation area.
Freedoms of the air within the European Union are a special case because the creation of the EU Single Aviation Market significantly changed the traditional model of bilateral agreements between states. Within the EU, air transport is no longer viewed only through the classical logic of national carriers and individual traffic rights between countries, but through a common market in which airlines holding a valid licence from one member state may operate freely across the entire Union.
This means that an air carrier registered and licensed in one EU member state may operate flights between any two points within the European Union, regardless of whether either of those points is in its home country. For example, a German airline may operate a domestic flight within Spain, a French airline may fly between Italy and Greece, and an Irish airline may establish a base in Croatia and operate from there to other European destinations. In the classical system of freedoms of the air, such rights would fall under the seventh, eighth or ninth freedoms, meaning highly liberal forms of traffic rights that are rarely granted outside integrated markets.
One of the key consequences of this system is permitted cabotage within the EU. This means that an airline from one member state may operate domestic services within another member state. Outside the European Union, such a model is generally very sensitive because countries often protect their domestic aviation markets, but in the EU it has become part of the common market framework. As a result, airlines have gained greater freedom in planning bases, routes and networks, while passengers have benefited from more competition, a wider choice of routes and often lower fares.
Another important element of the EU Single Aviation Market is free pricing. Airlines generally set passenger fares and cargo rates themselves, without requiring prior approval from the state. This has made the market much more flexible than in earlier periods, when fares, capacity and the number of flights were often strictly regulated by intergovernmental agreements.
In terms of market access, all airlines licensed in EU member states are, in principle, treated equally. If they meet the required safety, financial and regulatory conditions, they may establish bases and operate routes within the common European aviation area. A similar model has been extended to the wider European aviation area through related agreements with non-EU countries such as Norway and Iceland, while Switzerland participates through a separate bilateral aviation arrangement with the European Union.
The European example shows how strongly the freedoms of the air can reshape a market when applied in a highly liberal form. While in much of the world traffic rights are still negotiated between states, within the EU a system has been created in which an airline from one member state can operate almost like a domestic carrier across the entire Union. This is one of the main reasons for the strong development of low-cost carriers, better connectivity between European regions and a much more dynamic opening of new routes than in the classical bilateral model.
The freedoms of the air are therefore not just an academic classification, but a very practical set of rules that directly affects route networks, ticket prices, competition and the availability of air services. They explain why some airlines can sell tickets between two foreign cities, why certain routes exist only through major hubs and why the opening of a new international route sometimes depends more on an intergovernmental agreement than on commercial interest alone.
In more liberal agreements, especially so-called open skies arrangements, states and airlines are given greater freedom in determining routes, capacity and flight frequency. Even then, however, rules, restrictions and political interests remain. Air transport is global, but airspace remains part of each state’s sovereignty. This is why the freedoms of the air represent a balance between the commercial need to connect the world and the right of every state to control access to its own sky and market.
