Airspace Dispute

In an article in today’s Toronto Star, Chris Sorensen reports on an interesting issue regarding international aviation law. Earlier this summer, the US Department of Transportion had a spat with Canadian authorities over airspace regulation under the “Open Skies” agreement between the United States and Canada. The focus of the dispute was the rule in the agreement that allows airlines carrying passengers across foreign borders to make addditional stops in a country as long as no new passengers board the flight. The suit by the DOT against Air Canada alleged that there were people who traveled with the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Bruins without making a cross border stop.

With the problem now resolved, this article shows a close relationship between international law and sports business. Towards the end, Sorensen discusses deals that Air Canada had to charter flights for four NHL teams based in the United States – the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks, and New Jersey Devils. Presumably, the decision to use Air Canada made travel plans easier for these teams. For example, the Devils could use Air Canada to fly from Newark to Chicago to play the Blackhawks and then use the airline to go from Chicago to Toronto to play the Maple Leafs. Unfortunately for Air Canada,  American teams were apprehensive about the airlines ability to use American airspace, and the airline lost business due to the international legal battle.

- Jason