Cabotage

Cabotage (pronounced kab-uh-tij or kab-uh-tahzh)

(1) In seafaring, navigation or trade along the coast.

(2) In aviation, the legal restriction to domestic carriers of air transport between points within a country's borders (with certain exceptions).

(3) The transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country; the exclusive right of a country to control such transport.

(4) In law, the right to engage in such transport.

1825–1835: A borrowing from the French cabotage (coasting trade) from the French caboter (to sail coastwise; to travel by the coast), a verbal derivative of the Middle French cabo & the Spanish cabo (headland; cape).  Ultimate root is the Latin caput (head).  Word was first used in sixteenth century France to reference the restrictions which permitted only French ships to trade or transport between French ports. Other countries adopted the concept, later extending it to land and air travel.  Cabotage is a noun; the noun plural is cabotages.

Rights

Example of a cabotage arrangement.

Originally a term applied exclusively to shipping along coastal routes, cabotage can now refer also to aviation and land transport.  It is the transport of passengers and/or goods between two places in one country, undertaken by vessels from a different country.  Cabotage rights are those which define the extent to which transport operators from one country can trade in another and many arrangements exist.  In aviation, it is the right to operate within the domestic borders of another country; most states don’t permit aviation cabotage, and strict sanctions exist, historically either for reasons of economic protectionism, national security, or public safety.  One exception is the European Union, the member states of which grant cross-vested rights to all others, cabotage rights remaining otherwise rare in passenger aviation.  The Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation prohibits member states from granting cabotage on an exclusive basis, which has meant it’s not been used in bilateral aviation negotiations and is not granted under most open skies agreements.  The Closer Economic Relations agreement between Australia and New Zealand permits Australian carriers to fly domestically and internationally from New Zealand and vice versa. Additionally, there are limited rights for the airlines to service domestic routes within both countries.