Pierre Jeanniot (DG of IATA) stated on 16 November 1999 “There is no question that the air transport industry will continue to liberalise. Our main concern is that liberalisation proceeds in a manner which produces the best balance of benefits to consumers, airlines and the public interest”. IATA has issued a discussion paper on Air Transport and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). At present GATS covers repair and maintenance, provision of computer reservation systems and sales and marketing of air services. These may be added to at the next WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle (USA) on 3 December 1999.
