Challenges and Opportunities of the Establishment ASEAN Open Skies Policy

Abstract

Open skies policy is a concept of free market of airline industry. It eliminates single government’s influence in regulation and management of aviation industry. As implemented by the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASEAN-SAM) per 2015, the open skies policy aims to increase regional connectivity and regional economic growth by permitting airline industries from each ASEAN member states to fly above the Southeast Asian region without any barriers or restrictions. This policy has raised pros and cons from each ASEAN member state. Indonesia and some other states are still reluctant to adopt the open skies policy. By entering into commercial agreement to open their airspace, each member states will challenge their state sovereignty over the airspace above a state’s territory. This study argues that regional open skies policy provides greater economic advantages for the consumers of airline industry. However, this policy does not parallel to the basic principles of ASEAN. State sovereignty must be preserved in the liberalization that open skies represents. ASEAN Way, though inflexible, assigns member states with full sovereignty, which does not limit open skies policy implementation. This study, then, proposed legal framework through model of regional agreement to compromise between the state sovereignty principles and the regional open skies policy.