Do We Need a New Chicago Convention?

Abstract:     
Asserting that the 1944 Chicago Convention is outmoded is nothing new among some international aviation stakeholders, but calls for a new treaty fail to account for the high costs of instituting a replacement regime (or, more accurately, a competing one). Hopes that a new convention could be developed to include such features as strong economic rights for airlines or enhanced adjudicative and regulatory powers for the International Civil Aviation Organization must overcome the hard reality that the diffuse interests of over 190 States militates against finding universal consensus on these matters. While skeptical of the strong claim that the Chicago Convention should be dethroned, this Article advances the more modest suggestion that the political and normative costs of negotiating a new treaty outweigh the purported benefits.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 16

Keywords: Law, International Law, International Trade, Aviation, Airlines, International Organizations, Economics, International Civil Aviation Organization, Chicago Convention

Accepted Paper Series