Flying with a ‘fifth freedom’ airline can mean a better price and product, says Alex McWhirter

In a world of predictability, how fortunate it is to have the choice of “fifth freedom” carriers. These “third country” airlines ply a varied number of routes around the world, operating services that do not begin or end on their home soil. Most travellers are unaware of their existence, but choosing a fifth freedom airline can refresh the most jaded of travel palates and make your flight more enjoyable.

They also mean that instead of flying between Frankfurt and New York JFK with Germany’s Lufthansa, you could sample something more exotic in the shape of Singapore Airlines (SIA). When travelling between Bangkok and Hong Kong, why accept Thai Airways’ regional business class product on an elderly B747 when you could sample one of Emirates’ state-of-the-art A380s complete with fully flat beds? British Airways or Virgin Atlantic might seem the obvious choice if you want to book the premium economy cabin between London and Los Angeles, but why overlook Air New Zealand (ANZ), whose latest premium economy seating (starting on April 2) is more spacious?

Steve Gadd, business travel director of UK and Ireland for Trailfinders’ first and business class department in London, says: “These airlines, which one could almost describe as dislocated carriers, attract passengers with a mixture of price, service and scheduling.” An Emirates spokesperson adds: “Fifth freedom is about offering passengers choice. With our young fleet we have become the airline of choice for many travellers on the fifth-freedom routes we operate.”

Scheduling is a plus point. Consider that Catalonians heading for Brazil have no direct service to Sao Paulo from Barcelona – instead, they are obliged to take Iberia and change planes in Madrid. But from the end of this month, Singapore Airlines will connect the two cities nonstop using a B777-300ER equipped with the latest premium class seating. The new route will be a continuation of an SIA service that has originated in Singapore.

What if you are a Star Alliance fan and want to earn frequent flyer points between London and Hong Kong? That route is dominated by Oneworld carriers but thanks to fifth-freedom ANZ, Star passengers can accomplish the trip nonstop instead of routing via the likes of Frankfurt with Lufthansa, Zurich with Swiss or Bangkok with Thai Airways.

Likewise, Qantas comes to the rescue of Oneworld fans based in Frankfurt who need to reach Singapore. Germany is a Star stronghold and Frankfurt-Singapore is controlled by Lufthansa and SIA. But thanks to Oneworld’s Qantas, you can fly Frankfurt-Singapore nonstop, so there is no need to take British Airways via London.

Price is a selling point, depending on the carrier and route. Some fifth-freedom airlines have little market identity so must price keenly to drum up custom. The numerous services operated by Taiwanese carriers Eva Air and China Airlines (CAL) between Europe and Bangkok will always cost less than those of recognised names such as BA, Qantas, Thai, KLM and Lufthansa.

Within Asia, you can expect United to undercut SIA and Cathay Pacific between Singapore and Hong Kong, while Delta will charge less than Cathay Pacific or JAL on the important Hong Kong-Tokyo route.

Also noteworthy is Qatar Airways’ service between Singapore and Denpasar in Bali, on which local agents can sell you a flat-bed business class seat on a B777-300ER for little more than SIA might charge for a seat in economy.

By now, you might be wondering how fifth-freedom carriers can exist. Surely the national airlines of the two countries they operate in resent a third carrier muscling in on their patch? The answer lies in aviation history. In 1944, the world’s governments attended an ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) convention in Chicago where the framework of today’s airline networks was put together.

These worthy aviation officials devised a series of “freedoms”, or building blocks, that gave airlines the right to fly internationally. Of all the freedoms, it is the fifth that is the most interesting. Until the advent of the B747-400 in the late 1980s, no plane was capable of flying nonstop over really long distances – before then, airlines had to touch down for refuelling. So Air India stopped in London en route between Delhi and New York, BA’s Hong Kong-London service called in at Mumbai, and SIA’s California services had to operate via Hong Kong and Tokyo. These long routes would not be economically viable if airlines were not allowed to set down and pick up passengers en route, so sympathetic countries granted intermediate or fifth-freedom traffic rights.

Political considerations were another raison d’être for fifth freedom rights. The national carriers of Germany and Japan were grounded for ten years after the end of the Second World War. So were it not for allied airlines having fifth freedom rights, Germany and Japan would have been more isolated than they were.

Although US carriers no longer fly fifth freedom within Europe, they still utilise their rights within Asia – witness the number of services operated by Delta and United that link Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul.

Look at the situation faced by the Taiwanese carriers when they first operated to Europe in the 1980s. At that time, neither Eva Air nor CAL were permitted to take the most direct routing overhead the Soviet Union and mainland China. It meant taking a longer routing via the Gulf and South East Asia. The viability of Europe-Taiwan air service was secured when these airlines were given permission to carry passengers between Europe and Bangkok.

Once granted, it is not easy to remove fifth freedom rights. That is why such carriers are still active on what might seem like odd routes and using rights that might have been granted decades ago. Nowadays, gaining new fifth freedom rights can be tricky. In these difficult economic times, it is only natural that governments protect their national carriers. So gaining new rights, or even upgrading a plane type, can be an aeropolitical issue.

Some years back, Cathay Pacific wanted to fly between Manchester and Moscow en route to Hong Kong, while SIA sought to fly between London and New York. Both requests were turned down, and while Cathay Pacific never did serve Manchester in the end, SIA decided to route its transatlantic service through Frankfurt instead.

Singapore Airlines is also understood to have encountered problems with the Japanese authorities when it tried to upgrade its Tokyo-Los Angeles transpacific service from a B747-400 to a more modern A380. It is believed the Japanese were reluctant for the move to go ahead because both its carriers on the route – Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways – operate no comparable aircraft. Fortunately, SIA has finally won approval and, assuming its A380 delivery schedule goes according to plan, it will inaugurate its Tokyo-Los Angeles service from the end of the month.

The most enthusiastic supporters of fifth freedom carriers are the governments of Dubai and Singapore, as they recognise that were it not for third country airlines, their city-states could not have developed so fast. By the standards of Europe or the US, both destinations were late in acquiring their national carriers. Before SIA was formed in 1972 and Emirates in 1985, both Singapore and Dubai relied heavily on third country airlines to put them on the map. Both places acted as aerial crossroads astride the voluminous networks linking Europe with Asia and Australia.

If fifth freedom carriers do face a problem, it is one of identity. For example, how many Catalonians would think of logging on to singaporeair.com for a flight to Brazil? And how many Singaporeans would know to consult lufthansa.com for an evening flight to Jakarta? Fortunately, the transparency of the web, the advent of codesharing and better trained agents have all boosted brand awareness in recent times.

Emirates says: “We promote these [fifth freedom] services with advertising, direct marketing to potential travellers and travel agent training. This mix has proved to be successful for Emirates and is helped by the extensive and growing amount of information available online.”

So what are the drawbacks? In return for getting a better price or a better product, travellers must adapt to the airline’s schedules and, in some cases, they can be inconvenient. Take the fact that ANZ’s London-bound flight departs Hong Kong at an unfashionably early hour, or that Singapore Airlines plies Barcelona-Sao Paulo three times a week rather than daily.

Weather can also be a factor. You might be enjoying a leisurely breakfast at your five-star Singapore hotel and looking forward to your evening BA flight to Sydney, but be unaware that an incident at Heathrow has disrupted schedules. But ultimately, fifth freedom carriers offer passengers choice – and that’s no bad thing.