A bilateral air transport agreement (also sometimes called a bilateral air service agreement or ATA or ASA) is an agreement which two nations sign to allow international commercial air transport services between their territories.
In 1913, in what was probably the earliest such agreement, a bilateral Exchange of Notes was signed between Germany and France to provide for airship services.
One of the first ATAs following World War II was the Bermuda Agreement, which was signed in 1946 by the United Kingdom and the United States. Features of this agreement became models for the thousands of such agreements that were to follow, although in recent decades some of the traditional clauses in such agreements have been modified (or "liberalized") in accordance with "open skies" policies adopted by some governments, notably the United States.
In principle all ATAs should be registered by the International Civil Aviation Organization in DAGMAR but this source is not absolutely comprehensive.
Famous quotes containing the words air, transport and/or agreement:
“The animal merely makes a bed, which he warms with his body, in a sheltered place; but man, having discovered fire, boxes up some air in a spacious apartment, and warms that.... Thus he goes a step or two beyond instinct, and saves a little time for the fine arts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“One may disavow and disclaim vices that surprise us, and whereto our passions transport us; but those which by long habits are rooted in a strong and ... powerful will are not subject to contradiction. Repentance is but a denying of our will, and an opposition of our fantasies.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The doctrine of those who have denied that certainty could be attained at all, has some agreement with my way of proceeding at the first setting out; but they end in being infinitely separated and opposed. For the holders of that doctrine assert simply that nothing can be known; I also assert that not much can be known in nature by the way which is now in use. But then they go on to destroy the authority of the senses and understanding; whereas I proceed to devise helps for the same.”
—Francis Bacon (1560–1626)