Abstract

This thesis looks at the possibility of a regime change in international air transport services from a strictly bilateral economic regulatory framework to a multilateral one under the GATS. At the end of the Uruguay Round, air transport was the only services sector excluded from GATS coverage, although the Annex on Air Transport Services mandates a periodic review of this sector in order to eventually expand coverage of the GATS to the industry sub-sectors. The study attempts to uncover the reasons behind the first Air Transport Review stalemate, arguing that expansion of coverage will eventually occur. The study provides an examination of the regulatory developments of air transport, the institutional growth of the GATT/WTO and examines the relationship between the two using a descriptive analysis of the Review Sessions, and the actual data compiled for the dissertation. To test the descriptive sections of the study the empirical work uses linear regression

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