By Blair Bolles
Foreign Policy Association
(Published December 1945)

Contents

Why Is Freedom of the Air a Peacetime Problem?

Closing the Skies

• Does anybody own the air?
• What is our stake?
• The international air pioneers
• The plane as an instrument of aggression
• The economic fear

How Serious Are the Obstacles to Freedom?

• Freedom of transit
• Operational stops
• Stopping to do business
• Picking up business en route
• Prewar cooperation
• The prewar routes
• Air commerce during the war
• Wartime mileage increases
• ATC and NATS

Can the Obstacles Be Removed?

• More routes planned
• More countries in the airways
• The Chicago aviation conference
• Familiar fears
• Conference disagreements

Will Postwar Flying Be Quick and Cheap?

• We are betting on these
• Britain’s contenders
• Are there too many planes on hand now?
• How many paying passengers?
• How much must they pay?
• How much freight?
• Are the prospects good or bad?

What Are the “Five Freedoms” of Air Transport?

• What do they mean?
• Results of the Chicago conference
• Issues that remain

To the Discussion Leader

• Aids to discussion
• Questions for discussion

For Further Reading