使用者:Huihengchen/沙盒

百慕達協定（全稱：聯合王國政府與美利堅合眾國政府有關在兩國間開展航空服務的協定）是英國和美國於1946年在百慕達談判簽署的一個航空協定，旨在規範兩國間的航空服務。這也是早期的雙邊民航運輸條約的一個範本，它直接影響了之後近三千個類似的條約。這項協定後於1977年重新簽訂，並於1978年生效的百慕達協定II所取代。

背景

波音314

在第二次世界大戰時，英美之間的跨大西洋航線只有由波音314執飛的巴爾的摩與福因斯一條。泛美航空自1939年7月起，英國海外航空（BOAC）自泛美航空購入三架波音314以後也同樣飛航該航線。 在1944年達成的芝加哥公約中，英美兩國就航權方面產生了分歧。雖然他們都同意其中的第一與第二航權，但是英國和一些國家不願接受美國在第三、第四、第五航權上的立場。 美國希望能自由決定在國際航線中的班次與運量 ，而英國因為在第二次世界大戰中，損失了大量的機隊，無法與蒸蒸日上的美國航空公司進行競爭。

在百慕達協定之前，美國已經與數個歐洲國家（愛爾蘭、挪威、瑞典和丹麥）簽訂了雙邊航空協定，並與數個歐洲、拉美國家建立了一個多邊空運協定體系。但是往來英國的民航始終要與英國政府進行臨時談判。到了1945年末，英國已將美國航空公司的跨大西洋航線限制至每周14班，500席，最低票價375美元。

1945年七月，美國政府批准泛美航空，環球航空，美國對外航空運營跨大西洋航線。道格拉斯DC4在同年十月投入紐約至伯恩茅斯航線。泛美航空宣傳其DC4將能使票價降至波音314的一半。這使得英國政府對泛美航空和美國政府施壓。 同年底，美英兩國政府同意在百慕達進行會面和商定雙邊航空協定。

核心條款

與已有的雙邊和多邊航空協定所不同，百慕達協定規定了英國兩國航空公司可飛航的航線，也給予了在航線上各點上下客的權利（但不包括國內運輸權）。

• 英國航空公司:
  • 倫敦 - 紐約 - 舊金山 - 火奴魯魯/中途島/威克島/關島/馬尼拉 - 新加坡/香港
  • 倫敦 - 紐約 - 紐奧良 - 墨西哥城
  • 倫敦 - 紐約 - 古巴 - 牙買加/巴拿馬 - 哥倫比亞/厄瓜多/秘魯/智利
• 美國航空公司:
  • 美國國內 - 倫敦 - 荷蘭/德國/斯堪地那維亞/俄羅斯
  • 美國國內 - 倫敦 - 比利時 - 中歐 - 近東 - 印度
  • 火奴魯魯 - 香港 - 中國/印度
  • 火奴魯魯 - 香港 - 新加坡 - 荷屬東印度群島

The inclusion of many fifth freedom routes (beyond the United States and British Isles) reflected the fact that many territories such as Hong Kong, Singapore and India were still British colonies at the time the agreement was signed, and that many third countries were eager for air service and willing to provide rights to British and American carriers without restrictions.

As a compromise on the capacity issue, the Bermuda Agreement provided for equitable principles that "there shall be a fair and equal opportunity for the carriers of the two nations to operate on any route between their respective territories (as defined in the Agreement) covered by the Agreement and its Annex" and that "in the operation by the air carriers of either Government of the trunk services described in the Annex to the Agreement, the interest of the air carriers of the other Government shall be taken into consideration so as not to affect unduly the services which the latter provides."

Fares were made subject to regulatory approval by authorities in each country or by the International Air Transport Association, effectively giving the IATA immunity from US antitrust law, which immunity remained in effect on North Atlantic routes until 1979.

Operations under the agreement

1940s

Pan Am Lockheed Constellation at Heathrow Airport, London

Pan Am took delivery of the Lockheed 749 Constellation in June 1947 and began its "round-the-world" route with eastbound stops in New York, Gander, Shannon, London, Istanbul, Dhahran, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok, Manila, Shanghai, Tokyo, Guam, Wake, Midway, Honolulu and San Francisco, taking advantage of Bermuda Agreement fifth freedom rights.

Newfoundland, an essential refueling stop on any transatlantic air route in the 1940s, was part of Britain at the time the Bermuda Agreement was signed. In 1949, following its accession as a Canadian province, the United States signed an agreement with Canada to provide for fifth freedom rights to and from Gander.

1950s

BOAC de Havilland Comet jet

Pan Am acquired AOA from American Airlines in 1950, concentrating the US-UK air travel market to three carriers: Pan Am, TWA and BOAC.

BOAC, still Britain's sole transatlantic carrier, sought to compete with Pan Am's "round the world" service by offering an "all-red" route from Britain to Australia via Canada, but bilateral agreements between the UK and these countries stalled in the early 1950s. BOAC proceeded to open a London-Chicago route in May 1954, with the intention to extend the service to San Francisco and Tokyo. The San Francisco extension was not realized until 1957, and US government approval for the Tokyo service did not come until 1959 due to objections by Northwest Airlines.

BOAC introduced de Havilland Comet jet service on the London-New York route in 1958. TWA began jet service on the New York-London-Frankfurt route in 1959.

1960s

The United States began to exercise an even more dominant position in the transatlantic market during the 1960s. One key issue was that Pan Am and TWA began to use the hub and spoke system to feed passengers from many US destinations through a transatlantic "gateway" and on to Europe, giving the US carriers an advantage in serving secondary markets. Partly as a result of this competitive pressure, the market share of BOAC on transatlantic routes fell from 37.8% in 1961-62 to 30.9% by 1966-67.

1970s

The British government added a privately owned carrier, British Caledonian, to the transatlantic market in 1973, with flights from London's Gatwick Airport to New York and Los Angeles. BCal was forced to exit the market in 1976 after the British government determined that competition was not improving Britain's overall market share.

Termination

In 1976, the British government announced its intention to renounce the agreement, beginning the negotiation of the Bermuda II Agreement which became effective in 1978. Although the UK initially sought an equal division of capacity between UK and US carriers, the final Bermuda II agreement largely preserved the liberal capacity provisions of Bermuda I.

The Bermuda agreements were replaced in two stages on 30 March 2008, and 24 June 2010, by the EU–US Open Skies Agreement between the European Union (representing 25 European countries) and the United States, providing for an Open Skies regime even more liberal even than Bermuda I.

Effect on other aviation agreements

Both the United States and the United Kingdom made the Bermuda Agreement their model for bilateral agreements with other countries until Bermuda II. The only major exception during this era was the 1966 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, which designated Pan Am and Aeroflot as the operating carriers from each country and left commercial details of service to the airlines' prior agreement. Although most other agreements during this era followed the Bermuda I model, they tended to include fewer and fewer fifth and sixth freedom rights (traffic rights to and from third countries) as time went on, as the increased range of aircraft made such rights less necessary. The general principles of the Bermuda Agreement were also followed by other countries, such as Canada in its various bilateral agreements.