International Aviation

U.S. airlines serving key European and Pacific Rim Airports often face obstacles that foreign airlines operating in the United States experience to a much lesser extent. These obstacles include (1) limited access to landing and take-off slots; (2) inadequate terminals; (3) restrictions on their ability to perform ground services, such as checking in passengers and handling baggage; and (4) restrictions and delays in processing cargo. These obstacles at overseas airports affect all airlines except the national carriers, creating a home-country advantage for that carrier. The State Department and the Transportation Department recognize that U.S. airlines face many doing-business problems overseas, and these agencies have had some success in eliminating them. For examples, the two agencies helped U.S. airlines to obtain slots at satisfactory times at a Tokyo airport. Other problems, however, persist.

GAO found that: (1) U.S. airlines serving key Pacific Rim airports often face obstacles that foreign airlines operating in the United States do not, including limited access to landing and take-off slots, inadequate terminal facilities, restrictions on the performance of ground services, and delays in processing cargo; (2) although obstacles at overseas airports affect all airlines, they most adversely affect U.S. airlines because they are unable to use their superior operational efficiency as a competitive advantage; (3) these obstacles raise U.S. airlines' operating costs and provide the home-country carrier with a competitive advantage; (4) although the State Department and DOT have had some success in eliminating problems that violate bilateral accords, they have been less successful in improving U.S. airline competition in Pacific Rim countries; (5) the State Department and DOT negotiate with foreign governments for the right to perform certain services and attempt to balance U.S. airlines' competing commercial interests with the overall goal of gaining traffic rights for U.S. carriers; and (6) DOT does not collect sufficient information on U.S. airlines' obstacles at overseas airports to determine whether the problems of doing business in the Pacific Rim are pervasive or whether it is effectively using its limited resources to solve these problems.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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