Air Law

International Airspace

We've heard about international waters. What about international airspace? Apparently, just as the land is governed by a state or country, so does the air above it. The law governing international airspace is part of the Chicago convention whereby 54 nations came together in 1944 to establish international agreements on laws governing aviation so that the industry can operate safely and efficiently through close partnerships (ICAO, n.d.). Although this was in efforts to ease tensions between nations during the second world war, nevertheless, it is still of significant importance that clear rules were established equally and fairly for everyone.

Despite the many articles established in the Chicago convention, the main area of concern for this blogpost is on the laws governing territorial airspace which is clearly stated in article 1 and 2. It is mentioned in article 1 that states participating in the agreement recognizes that each and every state has full control and freedom over the airspace above its territory while article 2 states that "the territory of a State shall be deemed to be the land areas and territorial waters adjacent thereto under the sovereignty, suzerainty, protection or mandate of such State" (ICAO, n.d.). This is clear to every nation not to infringe on airspaces that do not belong to them without the consent of the governing state. Failure to uphold to these agreement is a clear violation of this act. Under common understanding from international law, the airspace above the country's land and territorial waters which extends 12 nautical miles from the coastline is under the country's control (Kareng, 2020).

Prior to the Chicago convention, these laws were governed by the convention that relates to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation in 1919 and the Havana convention in 1928 which was pretty messy. Kareng (2020) even mentioned in his article that in the past, agreements were made individually between hundreds of countries which was troublesome and unproductive. However, the conventions prior to the Chicago convention was definitely a base line that help paved the future for international aviation law. Had it not been for the Chicago convention governing on international airspaces, under current circumstances whereby air traffic is abundant, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

References

ICAO. (n.d.). Convention on International Civil Aviation - Doc 7300. https://www.icao.int/publications/Pages/doc7300.aspx

Kareng, Y. (2020). INTERNATIONAL AVIATION/AIRSPACE LAW AN OVERVIEW. International Journal of Law Reconstruction, 4(1), 56. https://doi.org/10.26532/ijlr.v4i1.10941

Yumna. (2018, July 4). Busy Airspace [Photograph]. Air Side International. https://www.airsideint.com/watch-flightrader24-may-have-recorded-the-busiest-airspace-day-on-record/

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