Last week’s “chart of the week” looked at the impact of an open skies agreement between Australia and United States that entered into force in 2008. The open skies agreement led to dramatic growth in passenger traffic between Australia and the US. In the 18 years before open skies, annual passenger traffic increased from 1.0 to 1.7 million (700,000 increase). In a little over a decade since (11 years), annual passenger traffic increased from 1.7 to 3.3 million (1.6 million increase)!
The open skies agreement was a clear structural break leading to a surge in passenger flows between Australia and the US. But how did it change the game?