The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are moving toward a non-smoking agreement for airline flights linking their countries. The talks are going on in several places, particularly Washington and Montreal, headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations affiliate that deals with international air standards.
Typically, negotiators are leery about going into detail, but Don M. Newman, the United States delegate to ICAO, and Jim Weber, the Australian delegate, are optimistic about an agreement in the next six months, and Weber said Australia might complete the follow-up legislation before the end of the year.
The four countries involved limit airline smoking to some degree, but such an agreement would tip the balance toward non-smoking flights across the Pacific. International airlines usually say banning smoking unilaterally would put them at a competitive disadvantage on long flights.
Australia now has a rule forbidding smoking on domestic flights, and in 1992, Qantas, in cooperation with Air New Zealand, banned smoking on flights between their countries.
New Zealand has a domestic non-smoking rule, and, according to an expert in the Embassy in Washington, believes that no further legislation would be required for a wider ban. A spokeswoman said her country was looking forward to reaching agreement as fast as possible.
Apparently, the United States would not have to legislate to fulfill a four-way agreement; a spokesman said the U.S. Department of Transportation believed it had the power to add other provisions to its existing rule.
This regulation, put into effect in 1990 after Congress required it, bans smoking on all scheduled flights in the 48 contiguous states, to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, within Hawaii and within Alaska, and also to or from these two states if the flight is less than six hours. This ban affects U.S.-licensed airlines and foreign carriers flying such routes.
On July 1 this year, Canada will ban smoking aboard airlines based in Canada. This date represents a postponement from 1993, made at the request of Canadian Airlines International, which still allows smoking on its Vancouver-Tokyo route, having banned it on all other runs.
The line says that 75 percent of passengers on this route come from Japan, and 60 percent of them want to smoke. A spokeswoman said that banning smoking on this run would mean a loss of $23 million a year in revenue. Air Canada, with no overseas routes, banned smoking in September 1990.
The four-way talks anticipate July 1996, the date ICAO set for the end of all smoking aboard commercial flights. That resolution, adopted in October 1992, was sponsored by the United States, Canada and Australia, and was approved by consensus, so countries that opposed it did not have to vote either way.
But until 1996 comes, some airlines are banning smoking on certain routes or flights, either permanently or as a test. Typically, a ban on one airline influences competing lines. This is a fluid situation, so people who have medical reasons should check with the line or travel agent to learn if there is a non-smoking flight.
Virgin Atlantic is a case study of smoking and competition. In June 1990, the line leaped in with one foot and banned smoking on one of three flights between New York-Newark and London. In September, when it dropped to two flights, both allowed smoking because, according to Lori Levin-Hyams, a spokeswoman, the pressure for smoking from the British side was too great.
Here are recent developments on U.S. airlines.
On Jan. 12, Northwest eliminated smoking in its first-class cabins on all its flights, domestic and overseas. The small first-class cabin, the airline said, made it difficult to segregate smokers. The airline said its customer research found 70 percent of all passengers preferred smoke-free cabins; United States and European international travelers were 80 percent in favor and international passengers based in Japan were only 63 percent in favor. Business class still provides smoking seats. Smoking is banned on all other Northwest flights except trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific.
Starting March 1, United, as a test, will eliminate smoking on Flights 901 and 902, a daily round trip between Kennedy International Airport and Heathrow in London, allowing smoking on the other daily flight on this route.
United also will test non-smoking on its only daily round trip between Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand, and Melbourne, Australia. On June 8, the airline said, it will bar smoking on one daily round trip between London and Los Angeles, between London and San Francisco, and between London and Dulles Airport outside Washington.
American Airlines banned smoking on flights to Canada three years ago, and, on Jan. 15, flights to Hawaii. On May 1, Flight 100, the first evening trip from Kennedy to Heathrow Airport in London, will become non-smoking along with the return Flight 101.
USAir, which has smoking sections on its three routes to Europe-Pittsburgh-Frankfurt, Philadelphia-Paris and Charlotte, N.C.-Frankfurt-has more demand than smoking seats, according to a spokeswoman. Delta, Trans World and Continental said they planned no changes.
Here are developments on foreign airlines. On March 1, Cathay Pacific will ban smoking on flights between its home base in Hong Kong and Europe, which the line says will mean that 70 percent of its flights will be non-smoking. It began eliminating smoking on flights to Southeast Asia in 1990 and says it expects to be a “fresh airline” by 1995, ahead of the ICAO deadline.
In mid-1993, Air France eliminated smoking on flights to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. The line said it has surveyed passengers and conducted tests on flights to London, Geneva and Milan. Smoking was banned on all airlines’ flights within France in March 1990.
On Jan. 1, British Airways began a non-smoking trial on flights from Britain to Australia and New Zealand, via Singapore or Bangkok. If passengers concur, the line said, the ban will become permanent. Domestic B.A. flights became non-smoking five years ago, and the line’s flights to Europe of 90 minutes or less became non-smoking in September. One of two daily flights to Hong Kong became non-smoking last summer. In September, British Airways eliminated smoking on one of its two daily round trips between London and Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Qantas started a non-smoking trial on one Australia-London flight on Jan. 1. In October, it banned smoking on three non-stop flights a week from Sydney to Los Angeles and back. In August, all Qantas flights of four hours or less became non-smoking. Air New Zealand bars smoking on flights between Auckland and Los Angeles via Honolulu, Fiji, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Western Samoa and Tonga.
No airline appears willing to tackle flights to Japan. Asked if Japan Airlines was considering testing non-smoking flights, a spokesman said no.
