The new air services agreement (ASA) struck this week between Hong Kong and China may represent a significant liberalisation of aviation rights but it pales in comparison with what other countries have been able to prise recently from mainland authorities.
It represents a great opportunity for smaller airlines looking to fly to second-tier destinations but access to China's main commercial centres, the criteria by which any agreement is judged, remains highly restricted to Hong Kong carriers.
In fact, the deal leaves open the possibility that Cathay Pacific Airways' much ballyhooed entry into the Shanghai passenger market will be delayed beyond October 2006 - the date stated in the deal - unless the Sino-Hong Kong negotiators return to the table before then to hammer out more frequencies.
According to the deal, the number of flights between Hong Kong and Shanghai are to be expanded 16.6 per cent by 2006, to 98.
Dragonair already operates 84 of those flights and is fully entitled to apply for more before Cathay becomes eligible. And that is what it intends to do. 'We expect to apply for increased services, both passenger and cargo to Shanghai but it is too soon to have specifics,' it said in a statement yesterday.
While Cathay could lobby the Civil Aviation Department, which distributes the frequencies, to hold the allocation of the 14 extra flights to make its entitlement practical rather than theoretical, any decision to do so would be without precedent.