When Is ‘Cabotage’ Economic Sabotage? : Friendlier skies: U.S., Canada try to cut a better deal for their air-carrier industries

Seasoned travelers know that flying can be a big hassle, especially when it means having to make connecting flights. It can be a real bummer when the connecting plane takes off without you--a disaster that a direct flight would have obviated.

U.S. and Canadian travelers may get some relief soon. Officials from both countries began talks Thursday aimed at updating airline landing rights that have been used for the past 17 years. Discussions will focus on a proposed “open skies” policy that would simplify and liberalize a variety of air travel procedures ranging from direct flights to computer reservations to immigration clearance procedures.

That’s in the spirit of free commerce and trade, all to the benefit of consumers, airlines and tourism on both sides of the border. In this instance, less regulation and more competition should help everyone.

Just precisely what “open skies” means is a big question, one to be defined and refined during the negotiations, which are expected to take several months. At issue is a treaty covering landing rights between this country and Canada that was written in 1966 and revised in 1974. Under these rules, a traveler in Dallas can’t fly directly to Vancouver, while a tourist from St. John’s, Newfoundland, can’t get to Florida without having to change planes at least once.

Such circuitous routes defy logic given today’s long-range aircraft that make it theoretically possible to fly nonstop almost anywhere. The existing limitations on landing rights curb Canada’s access to the fast growing U.S. air-travel market and limit American carriers’ access to Canada.

The most volatile issue in negotiating new air travel terms is cabotage , the term used when a foreign carrier is permitted to fly another country’s domestic routes. In the United States, foreign carriers can now only take passengers originating from their country to one U.S. destination. A foreign traveler must use American carriers to fly on to other U.S. points.

U.S. and Canadian opponents of cabotage point to the disproportionate operating and cost advantages that giant U.S. airlines would have over their Canadian competitors. U.S. critics also worry that if Washington allows Canadian carriers to fly between U.S. destinations, they will have to extend cabotage rights to all foreign carriers. But that’s fine as long as the governments of the foreign carriers extend reciprocal routing rights in their own countries.

The goal of the U.S.-Canadian talks is to open up and increase air travel. That would make traveling more efficient, competitive, convenient and, one hopes, less expensive.