"This publication is just one among 6 published books and additional several book-size manuscripts and over 150 journal articles published by the same author who, within the span of 15 years since the completion of his graduate studies (Monash University, Victoria, Australia) emerged as one of the world's leading scholars in the field of international air law. Furthermore, his prolific research work in the form of extensive studies and articles published in prestigious journals around the world addressed also issues of the general international law, trade law and legal theory. His exceptional qualifications and contribution to both the legal theory and practice have been recognized by his recruitment for senior international civil service in the Secretariat of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal and he became a highly respected member of several international and national learned societies and an invited speaker at major international conferences.

The book by Dr Abeyratne bears all marks of his creative, mature and original scholarship in a highly specialized legal field of international civil air transport. The computer reservation systems (CRS) and code sharing agreements among airlines represent a dramatic evolution for international civil aviation and have a more immediate impact on the marketing and competition than the evolution of flight technology. They open the door to airline cooperation and to globalization of international air transport, to greater efficiency and economy. These new commercial tools create a host of legal problems which have not yet been addressed by the legal theory and have been only superficially treated by the law-making practice of States and international organizations. The subject of Dr Abeyratne's thesis is valid as a pioneering contribution to this new field and is eminently useful both for legal theory and practice.

The author presents a penetrating analysis of the legal and regulatory issues of international air transport, focusing on the controversial subjects of the mutual exchange of traffic rights and the competing trends between restrictive bilateralism and liberal multilateral approaches. No other author has so far presented such an analysis based on the controversial positions forwarded in an international framework at the ICAO 1992 Symposium and the 1994 World-wide Air Transport Conference. The author seeks to find a reasonable balance between the conflicting international interests and to find solutions protecting the economic interests of the developing States and of smaller airlines. He also offers the first published analysis of the legal deliberations of the GATT Uruguay Round with respect to trade in services and the impact of GATS on civil air transport.

Quite novel is the author's analysis of the Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) and code sharing practices of airlines, of the diffuse and uncoordinated efforts at their national legal regulation and of the weaknesses of the international efforts for the unification of the applicable rules (e.g., in the form of the ICAO "Code of Conduct"). I personally consider as most innovative, original and useful for the practical needs the portion of the book devoted to problems of liabilities arising our of code sharing agreements and CRS. The author proves here not only his superb knowledge of the field but also a bold and well reasoned vision of the needs de lege ferenda. The very recent deliberations in the ICAO Legal Committee integrating the provisions of the 1961 Guadalajara Convention into a new instrument to replace the system of the 1929 Warsaw Convention prove the author's foresight and the practical relevance of his conclusions.

The author's analysis of the evidentiary value of computer generated data opens up a new field in international air law - so far untouched in theory and only tentatively addressed in the jurisprudence. His treatment of dispute resolution also contains bold and visionary elements and it is to be seen whether the political will of States will allow a practical implementation of this mechanism".
 

Professor Dr. Michael Milde
Director
Institute of Air and Space Law
McGill University
Montreal
Canada