A critical analysis of the code sharing contract in the aviation industry

Abstract

Code Sharing is a genre of contract recognizable to the airline industry, and this type of practice reflected in agreements has experienced a relatively recent and wide dissemination. This mirrors broadly the facts supporting the needs of airlines, which despite a regulatory analytical regulation of the obligations contained in contracts, gives rise to a series of legal problems of a private and public nature. This study starts off with a historical background, followed up by an overview of the sorts of contract in the business and an attempt to define the practice of Code Sharing. Subsequently, this study will endeavour to identify the legal nature of Code Sharing through a comparison with other agreements in the industry, from the theory of contract perspective. Once this is established, the study passes on to examine the typical contractual provisions that ought to be found in the Code Sharing contract. Generally, a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations arising under it on anyone except the parties to it. The Code Sharing contact, in fact, is one that produces third party effects in relation to the passenger that would have contracted with an airline and ends up travelling with another carrier, other than the one shown on the ticket. Passenger protection is an issue that ought not to be underestimated. At a third instance, there is an identification of Code Sharing contract terms in competition law, route authority/traffic rights and slot allocation. The words Code Sharing contract and Code Sharing agreement are used interchangeably throughout this thesis. It is hereby noted that due to the word limit imposed and the vastness of the present topic under discussion, this thesis will not be tackling the scenario of Code Sharing as it applies in relation to security/safety law; labour law issues; and environmental law issues. Hence, all these sub-topics are considered beyond the scope of this work.