Archives

by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne

On 3 June 2002, Expo Aviation (Pvt) Ltd is reported to have operated a flight from Ratmalana to Palaly, thus reviving a domestic airlink which had been in abeyance due to security and safety reasons. The flight, which was operated consequent to approval given by the authorities of Sri Lanka in accordance with international civil aviation standards, marked a milestone in the aviation history of Sri Lanka.

This is because, in a strictly modernist sense, the establishment or resumption of air links between two cities essentially marks the existence of peace in the areas concerned. By peace is not meant the mere absence of war, but the existence of an environment where society can, without fear or fervour, consider that the city they live in is safe for living. The resumption of flights between Colombo and Jaffna therefore augurs well for the political environment of Sri Lanka and also heralds hope and a sense of security among its people. The importance of civil aviation to Sri Lanka, both externally and internally cannot be overstated. Neither can it be taken that civil aviation in any context is exclusive and endemic to the country by itself.

The political significance of the achievement of reviving the air link between the two cities has an international connotation. This is brought to bear by the very circumstances that led to regulation in civil aviation in post World War 2 politics.

The Chicago Conference, which was initiated on 11 September 1944, when the Government of the United States of America, on its own initiative, sent a letter of invitation to 53 States and two dignitaries whose governments were in exile, inviting them to a conference that would lead to the development of international air transport as a post-war measure. This was the first initiative at identifying the true political role to be players by civil aviation. This letter also informed the invitees that the United States had conducted numerous bilateral discussions with States who had shown a special interest in this measure. At the Conference, the United States took the position that the use of the air and the use of the sea were both common in that they were highways given by nature to all men.

They were different in that man's use of the air is subject to the sovereignty of nations over which such use is made. The United States was therefore of the opinion that nations ought to arrange among themselves for its use in such manner as would be of the greatest benefit to all humanity, wherever situated. The United States further asserted the rule that each country has a right to maintain sovereignty of the air which is over its lands and its territorial waters. There was no question of alienating or qualifying this sovereignty. This absolute right, according to the United States, had to be qualified by the subscription by States to friendly intercourse between nations and the universal recognition of the natural rights of States to communicate and trade with each other. This right could not be derogated by the use of discriminatory measures.

The fact that the United States required States to exchange air traffic rights reciprocally is clearly evident in the statement:

It is therefore the view of the United States, that, without prejudice to full rights of sovereignty, we should work upon the basis of exchange of needed privileges and permissions which friendly nations have a right to expect from each other.

From a political perspective, both for Sri Lanka and the rest of the world, the strictly modernist post war political trend of nation building through the sacrosanct principle of State sovereignty was rigidly applicable to civil aviation.

The post modernist pluralism of the last 40 decades leading up to the current century, emphasized the right of the individual as a global citizen and proceeded toward a globalized economy which was particularly visible in air transport and other areas of trade in the eighties and nineties. Of course, with the events of 11 September 2001 which changed the course of world history, a certain neo-post modernist trend emerged, where sovereignty and individual rights gave way to a new approach where the State, its instrumentalities and other elements of society including the private sector are now combined together in an effort toward ensuring peace and security.

The new approach of pooling resources for the welfare of a nation's people is also called national competition and is seemingly the way Sri Lanka is headed with its Asian counterparts such as China, Singapore, Republic of Korea and Taiwan.

This is essentially a progressive approach which civil air transport in Sri Lanka, both from an international and national perspective should also follow. Such an approach calls for liberalized agreements and commercial alliances calculated to maximizing profits and sharing of resources. Bringing aspects of trade within a liberalized framework is generally a pro-active measure, which brings to bear the willingness and ability of the governments to face trading issues squarely in the eye.

However, any agreement for trading benefits would be ineffective without the element of competition. The essential requisite for success in trading relations is competition, which in turn leads to national prosperity. A free trade agreement is merely the catalyst in the process.

National prosperity is created, not inherited. Although national resources are a States' assets, the prosperity of a nation does not necessarily emerge solely from the natural endowments of the State concerned, nor from its labour resources, but rather from a certain localized process which engulfs economic structures, national values, culture and institutions. The essential catalyst to trade is national competitiveness.

National competitiveness is one of the most critical drivers of successful government and industry in every nation. Yet for all the discussion, debate, and writing on the topic, there is still no persuasive theory to explain national competitiveness.

What is more, there is not even an accepted definition of the term "competitiveness" as applied to a nation. While the notion of a competitive company is clear, the notion of a competitive nation is not. A nation's standard of living depends on the capacity of its companies to achieve high levels of productivity - and to increase productivity over time.

Sustained productivity growth requires that an economy continually upgrade itself. A nation's companies must relentlessly improve productivity in existing industries by raising product quality, adding desirable features, improving product technology, or boosting production efficiency. They must develop the necessary capabilities to compete in more and more sophisticated industry segments, where productivity is generally high. They must finally develop the capability to compete in entirely new, sophisticated industries.

When viewed in the context of national competitiveness, one observes that at best, the air transport industry's fortunes have been irregular. The airline industry, despite its glamour and perceived commercial power, has experienced marginal profitability and cyclical fiscal growth in the long term, with periods of growth and profit being watered down by less successful periods to follow. One of the reasons for this fluctuating pattern is that the airline industry is driven by variable factors such as operational and technological changes as well as regulatory control.

It is an incontrovertible fact that the sad and tragic consequences of the events of 11 September 2001 firstly impacted the victims of those terrible attacks, and their families. It is equally unchallengeable that the second casualty in this horrendous series of events was aviation.

Aeronautically speaking, aviation paid the irrecoverable cost of having aircraft used as weapons of vast destruction. Commercially speaking, the closure of airspace, as an immediate measure throughout the United States and some parts of Europe, and its subsequent opening amidst restricted commercial activity of airlines, not only impacted the air transport industry during the first few days of the catastrophe, but also continues to portend grave commercial implications for the airline industry in the years to come.

One awaits the natural corollary to this very progressive step of opening up air links between Colombo and Jaffna, where healthy competition between air carriers in Sri Lanka will establish a commercial arena in air transport that would harmoniously balance considerations of economic development and trade promotion with security and safety considerations.

(The writer is Chairman, Appeals Tribunal and Co-ordinator, Air Transport Programmes of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal).

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager