Towards a Multilateral Aviation Treaty

Abstract How does one organize international interaction patterns which will serve to strengthen a peaceful and just international order? This is the central question of this paper which focuses on one particular type of interaction: international aviation. Starting from the five 'global values' of welfare, peace, justice, pluralism, and ecological balance, some consequences for interaction patterns are derived. The history and present state of aviation are discussed briefly in terms of network parameters (integration, centralization, polarization), network utilization (multiple users or a unitary user), allocation of services (laissez-faire vs. 'public utility'), distribution of income (traffic originator takes all or carrier takes all or some kind of sharing), and finally decision-making (single-country, bilateral, multilateral). Aviation is characterized by increasing integration, high (but somewhat decreasing) centraliza tion and periodic local polarization of the network, duplicating services allocated on the basis of regulated competition, very limited income sharing, and largely bilateral decisionmaking. Aviation services are very unequally distributed (within and between countries) and no 'limit to growth' has been formulated by the industry. A movement towards less centralization and higher international equality in network definition, industry participation etc., is seen as desirable. A multilateral aviation system is seen as the system most suited to steering aviation in the direction of the postulated values. While there was considerable interest in multi lateralism during and just after WW II, interest has waned since then. As a preliminary step, it is suggested that ICAO sets up a computer model for a simulated aviation system, based on a multilateral treaty. This 'simulated network' could be used as a standard for reporting on current trends in aviation.