However it is notable that liberalisation has only gone so far- it has rarely been complete. Most
liberal bilateral agreements only allow airlines from the two partner countries to participate in the
market on an unrestricted basis. A typical US “Open Skies” agreement will be liberal in that it
has no limits on the number of airlines from the US and its partner country which are permitted
to compete on routes between the two countries, and that it does not restrict capacity. However it
does not permit airlines from third countries to serve the route, except perhaps on a very limited
basis, and it will impose strict controls on the ownership and control of the airlines which are
regarded the US or the partner country’s airlines. The recent US-Europe open skies agreements
opens the market up somewhat, in that it allows for all European airlines to fly the US-Europe
route – for example, a British airline can fly from France to the US. However, it does not permit
non US or European airlines to fly the route.