The ASEAN Single Aviation Market or Open Skies project aims to
liberalize the air transport industry in ASEAN by 2015. However, the project faces
significant obstacles, including non-acceptance by key member states and an
incomplete agenda that excludes more ambitious relaxations to market access and
ownership and control rules. The ASEAN states’ failure to forge a truly single
market and a common negotiating position risks disadvantaging their airlines vis-à-vis competitors from larger unified markets such as China.