The Fifth Freedom of the Air is quite in vogue as of late – especially with the big three Gulf Carriers. Simply put, fifth freedom rights allow an air carrier to carry passengers from one’s own country A, to country B, and onward to country C, with the permission to sell tickets for each leg. For example, below maps out Emirate’s fifth freedom route via Milan, however that route’s future is uncertain.
Example of a Fifth Freedom Route (in this case: Emirates JFK-MXP-DXB).
Why Fifth Freedom Rights Matter to Fliers
Amol at HackMyTrip wrote a great post and updated it as recently as last year, and covered some of the more interesting routes available at the time. Essentially: Fifth freedom rights allow you to fly on some really cool airlines to places you might not expect.
A small collection (again, courtesy of HackMyTrip), include Emirates to Auckland from Melbourne or Sydney, a half dozen airlines from Bangkok to Hong Kong, Qatar from Singapore to Denpasar-Bali, Madrid to Frankfurt on LAN, and many more!
Why Fifth Freedom Rights Matter to Airlines
In many cases, Fifth Freedom rights open up cities that airlines would otherwise be unable to serve, either due to distance or density. A great example is Emirates Airways, who flies from Dubai to Melbourne and Sydney, and onward to Auckland.
It is important to note, that fifth freedom routes are a double edged sword; they can open up markets to greater flight availability, but at the same point, can be a disadvantage to the flagged carriers (e.g. Alitalia).
Emirates Dubai to Melbourne/Sydney to Auckland Fifth Freedom Routes.
As far as other parts of the world, it seems to me that Asia is more permitting of fifth freedom rights than anywhere else in the world. Some examples include:
I find this most interesting, because most of the routes identified are operated by European or Gulf airlines (sans Singapore-Colombo and Bangkok-Singapore which are operated by Cathay Pacific). It is interesting to me because Asia has a very robust low-cost carrier segment, and perhaps more interestingly, from a low cost carrier standpoint, there’s a mix of affiliates / Joint Ventures like Jetstar, Air Asia, but also some unique ones, like Nok Air.
Conspicuously missing, are not as many non-African fifth freedom rights in Africa. Last year RwandAir was looking at some routes, unfortunately, more recently, Air Tanzania objected. According to the African Airlines Association has a study from 2012 that shows the following 5th Freedom rights by sub-region:
African Airlines Association’s study from 2012 showing 5th Freedom rights.
I plan to do more research on this, and post more in the future, primarily because I believe 5th freedom rights are nearly as important as alliances, with respect to opening up cities to tourism.
Have you flown any Fifth Freedoms? What are your thoughts? Helpful or hurtful to tourism?
I have taken one fifth freedom flight so far from HKG-SFO on SQ. The good thing about these fifth freedom flights is that their price do not fluctuate like the regular fare.
I brought the ticket two days before I left HKG one-way for only $686 USD, the price could be lower if I purchase different fare class, but I was doing my A3 mileage run, and have to get the 100% miles.
@Jack – very cool, did you take it on the 77W or back when SQ was flying the A380? I got to fly it on the 77W (in Y) back in 2010 — believe it or not it was quite comfortable. Even better to be able to knock out so much of the A3 need to maintain Star Gold status!
It was a 77W, I ttok the flight last year November. It was better than UA and AC International Y Class, I would definitely take that flight again in the future.
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Great and informative post! Thank you!
Being Jewish, and having a passport chock full of stamps from Israel trips, I have steered clear of flying airlines that are based/owned by Middle Eastern countries. Is that a reasonable fear? Can you or any readers give some advice and/or share experiences of flying/transiting with a name and passport that makes my ethnicity obvious?
Thanks.
@ES – Thanks for your comment and kind words. I’ll be candid – I grew my beard on a trip through the Middle East to stand out less… (I kind’ve stand out anywhere but the US and Europe as it is). That said, I haven’t seen any reason to make me think flying the big three is of concern. In fact, we have never had any problem going through customs at either of the three major airports (although I think Doha, Qatar is more strict than UAE).
As far as passports, I haven’t visited Israel (its on the list), but I do have a second passport. I’ve used my primary passport for the UAE, Qatar, Egypt (where I am now), as well as 30 other countries. I feel like I get more detailed looks in Asia than Middle East. I know that’s not a definitive answer, but I feel like the airlines certainly don’t have any incentive to turn away a pretty significant population/ethnicity, its bad business, and these people are more and more focused on business. (I’d argue Dubai is too).
I’d definitely encourage others to share their experiences.
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