Annex D-II — Complementary information template
This template is designed to allow WTO member to communicate in a simplified format immediately compatible with the quasar methodology the agreement absent from the ICAO WASA database or that have been updated as compared to those present in the ICAO-WASA database.

Air Transport and the GATS: 2000-2005 gathers together most of the background documentation produced by the Secretariat on developments in the sector for the period 2000-2005.

The background documentation of the second review consists of S/C/W/270 and two addenda (S/C/W/270/Add.1 and S/C/W/270/Add.2). These documents address the economic and regulatory developments in the air transport sector. Since the annex on Air Transport Services provides no definition of the sector, the documents try to encompass all aspects of air transport and air transport-related services. They follow the model of the former WTO Secretariat document S/C/W/59 on the same subject examined during the Information Exchange Program in 1998, and of document S/C/W/163 and its addenda examined during the first review of the air transport annex in 2001-2003.
  

PART ONE    back to top

Document S/C/W/270, dated 18 July 2006, constitutes the first part of the background documentation prepared by the Secretariat. It deals with services “auxiliary” to air transport, namely maintenance repair and overhaul, airlines' ticket distribution, franchising, leasing, ground handling, airport management and air navigation services. It is also available as a publication.

PART TWO    back to top
Quantitative Air Services Agreements Review (QUASAR)

Document S/C/W/270/Add.1, dated 30 November 2006, is the second part of the documentation on developments in the air transport sector that the Secretariat has been mandated to produce by the Council for Trade in Services in the framework of the second review of the GATS Annex on Air Transport Services.

It focuses on scheduled air passenger services and seeks to offer a detailed and, as far as possible, comprehensive analysis of market access features of bilateral Air Services Agreements (ASAs). For the purpose of this analysis, the Secretariat has developed a specific approach, the Quantitative Air Services Agreement Review (QUASAR), which combines both a methodology and a database of information drawn from a variety of sources.

It is structured in four parts.

Part A provides an introduction to the QUASAR methodology.
Part B outlines the preliminary global and regional results that emerge from its application.
Part C provides a systematic and in-depth analysis of the bilateral ASAs concluded by 184 Contracting States, the term used by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for its members, and of their level of openness.
Part D contains a detailed methodological note on the QUASAR and suggestions for possible future methodological refinements.

> Possible Improvement to Quasar and the ASAP Software

  
  
PART THREE    back to top

The third part of the documentation, document S/C/W/270/Add.2, dated 28 September 2007, prepared by the Secretariat for the second review of the Air Transport Annex covers:

(I) plurilateral Air Services Agreements;

(II) the economic and financial situation of scheduled passenger airlines;

(III) economic and regulatory developments in specific areas, namely low-cost carrier services, non-scheduled passenger air transport services, regional air transport services, general aviation services, cargo services, slots, alliances and cooperation amongst airlines, ownership; and

(IV) other significant economic and regulatory developments.