Fifth Freedom offers travellers the chance to fly an "exotic" airline

If you’re not intimately familiar with the airline industry, chances are you have never heard of the industry convention, Fifth Freedom. Sort of sounds like a resistance movement, but in reality it allows an airline from one country to carry revenue traffic and cargo between two or more other countries. The benefit for the airline is that it allows it to break up a long flight, while at the same time generate revenue between two foreign countries. Passengers benefit by getting more choice, and are able to experience an airline that they may not normally have an opportunity to. And while fares for these flights are often competively priced, in most cases they also come with full international service.  

It was at the 1944 International Air Transport Conference, where the Canadian delegation’s proposal to allow five “freedoms of the air” was adopted. There are now nine freedoms, which simply are negotiated commercial aviation rights granting a country’s airline the privilege to enter or land in another country’s airspace.

The First Freedom allows an airline from one country to overfly another country without landing. This happens everyday, for example when airlines from Asia and Europe fly through Canadian airspace before landing in the United States. The Second Freedom allows an airline to land in another country for technical reasons, often to refuel, without picking up or letting off revenue traffic. The Third and Fourth freedoms are the most common, which allows an airline to carry passengers and cargo from one's own country to another, and back again.

It’s the Fifth Freedom flights that offer an interesting perspective. I once had a friend seeking advice from me, because he wanted to fly from Hong Kong to Bangkok, and he wasn't sure what airline flew this route. Given the origin and destination, Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific were obvious choices, with both offering multiple flights a day. However, I told him he could also fly on SriLankan Airlines, Emirates, Kenya Airways, Royal Jordanian, or Ethiopian Airlines—the latter of which is, maybe surprising to some, actually a well-regarded airline. Who knew there was such choice between these two cities?

Interested in flying from Los Angeles to London? Did you know that Air New Zealand can get you there with some Kiwi flair? How about flying from Los Angeles to Paris on Air Tahiti Nui? Or New York to Frankfurt on Singapore Airlines or Air India? Fancy some Chilean hospitality on a short sector between Toronto and New York. Did you know that instead of flying from Vancouver to Las Vegas on a small jet  with limited service, you could fly four times a week on a spacious Philippine Airlines Airbus 340-300, with 264 seats in a two-class configuration?

While fifth freedom flights often offer good value, there are some drawbacks. Some don't fly daily, and the timing of the flight is not always ideal. Like the time I flew Hong Kong’s, Cathay Pacific, from New York to Vancouver, and it arrived at 2:00 am.

Vancouver’s geographical location made it well suited for fifth freedom flights, but in recent years many of these have been discontinued for a variety of reasons. Airlines that offered these flights from Vancouver included:

Philippine Airlines – New York (Newark)

Qantas – San Francisco

Singapore Airlines – Seoul

Air Pacific – Honolulu

Malaysia Airlines – Taipei

Japan Airlines – Mexico City

In places all over the world, these Fifth Freedom flights exist, so the next time you book your flight, ask your travel agent or search the web, and you just might be able to fly an airline you’ve never heard of.