The Law and Policy of Air Space and Outer Space: A Comparative Approach

This is a policy oriented and comparatively oriented textbook on air and space law for students and practitioners. It covers the history and development of air and space law; their interrelationships; their relationships with the law of the seas and the law of Antarctica; institutions working in the field of air and space law; sovereignty in national airspace; freedom of exploration and use of outer space; public international air law; penal air law; private international air law, especially liability law; and public and private space law. Much attention is devoted to the law of air commerce: bilateral air services agreements; inter-airline co-operation; the effects of competition, antitrust and European Union law; deregulation, privatisation and commercialisation of air transport; ownership and control of airlines, and airline alliances; multilateralisation of air transport; and congestion and environmental controls. The last chapter of the book briefly deals with the legal aspects of commercial outer space applications. Increasingly, air transport, both in fact and in law, is becoming an ordinary industry like any other and is being treated as such. Rapidly, commercial outer space activities are being privatised and commercialised.