Freedoms of the Air / Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR

In accordance with Article 6 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (or the Chicago Convention), “no scheduled international air service may be operated over or into the territory of a contracting State, except with the special permission or other authorization of that State, and in accordance with the terms of such permission or authorization.” An airline of a state wishing to operate to another state should therefore get the permission from that other state. The common way to achieve this is for the two states to sign a bilateral Air Services Agreement (ASA). The ASA covers provisions including the “Freedoms of the Air”, in other words the traffic rights, of the aircraft of both Contracting States to enter into and land on the territory of each other.

The freedoms of the air are classified into 9 categories whose definitions are given in the following table. The first five "freedoms" have been officially recognized by international treaty known as "International Air Transport Agreement or Five Freedoms Agreement".

1st Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State or States to fly across its territory without landing (also known as a 1st Freedom Right).

2nd Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State or States to land in its territory for non-traffic purposes (also known as a 2nd Freedom Right).

3rd Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State to put down, in the territory of the first State, traffic coming from the home State of the carrier (also known as a 3rd Freedom Right).

4th Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State to take on, in the territory of the first State, traffic destined for the home State of the carrier (also known as a 4th Freedom Right).

5th Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State to put down and to take on, in the territory of the first State, traffic coming from or destined to a third State (also known as a 5th Freedom Right).

6th Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, of transporting, via the home State of the carrier, traffic moving between two other States (also known as a 6th Freedom Right).

7th Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, granted by one State to another State, of transporting traffic between the territory of the granting State and any third State with no requirement to include on such operation any point in the territory of the recipient State, i.e the service need not connect to or be an extension of any service to/from the home State of the carrier.

8th Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege, in respect of scheduled international air services, of transporting cabotage traffic between two points in the territory of the granting State on a service which originates or terminates in the home country of the foreign carrier or (in connection with the so-called 7th Freedom of the Air) outside the territory of the granting State.

9th Freedom of the Air

The right or privilege of transporting cabotage traffic of the granting State on a service performed entirely within the territory of the granting State.

Source: Manual on the Regulation of International Air Transport (Doc 9626, Part 4)