Part of An introduction into AirlineSim — © ASRouteMap · 2014
Traffic rights
What are traffic rights?
As there are quite a few good articles already, I won't explain much myself. Follow the links and read those, they will explain it quite well.
2.0 note (2026): The original linked to third-party articles (the AirlineSim wiki) here; those links are not carried over.
Traffic rights are the legal framework that allows airlines to offer flights between different countries. As an airline, you can't just fly where ever you want.
Here are a few rules. In general, an airline from a given country can fly anywhere within that country. And additionally, it can fly from its home country to any other country in the world.
According to ICAO, there are a total of nine freedoms of the air. Wikipedia also explains these quite nicely.
Cargo traffic rights
Cargo is not affected by traffic rights limitations. In the game, you can fly cargo anywhere you want.
Political restrictions
To further complicate things, there are some country pairs that you cannot fly (like Israel to Arabian countries).
Simplification
As with many aspects, there are some simplifications in the game. While it is possible for airlines to fly from another European country to outside of the EU, these are governed by bilateral agreements. These are not covered in the game, for simplicity as well as reasons to not give EU airlines more advantages than they already have.
Investment-open countries
There is number of countries that allow you to setup a subsidiary and get full traffic rights in that country. These countries used to be mostly smaller countries that are not so attractive for players. The list includes some interesting countries though that do allow for quite nice airlines (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.). With the introduction of Hoover, the list has changed and is now much more restrictive.
On older worlds, these are the countries to let you outgrow your home market:
- Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan
- Bahamas, Barbados, Benin
- Costa Rica, Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia
- Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau
- Honduras
- Iraq, Ivory Coast
- Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait
- Laos, Lebanon (Israel Holding not accepted)
- Moldova, Mongolia
- Niger
- Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay
- Qatar
- Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Sudan, Swaziland
- Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu
- Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
- Zambia
2.0 note (2026): This is the 2014 list for the older worlds — the game maintains the investment-open country list and it has changed since. Check the current rules in the game.
Newer game worlds starting with Hoover have a new, much more restrictive list. That is what is left on those worlds:
- Angola, Azerbaijan
- Bahamas, Barbados, Benin
- Cambodia, Cameroon
- Djibouti, Dominica
- Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau
- Honduras
- Iraq, Ivory Coast
- Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait
- Laos, Lebanon (Israel Holding not accepted)
- Moldova, Mongolia
- Niger
- Papua New Guinea, Paraguay
- Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Sudan, Swaziland
- Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu
- Uganda, Uzbekistan
- Zambia
2.0 note (2026): Likewise a 2014 snapshot — today's newer worlds run on a different, game-maintained list.