HR-1536-119
Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.
Sponsored by James Moylan (R-GU)
What it does
This bill would create a limited exception to the federal law known as the "cabotage" rule, which prohibits foreign airlines from carrying passengers or cargo between two points within the United States. Specifically, it would allow airlines registered in Japan, the Philippines, or South Korea to pick up and drop off passengers and cargo in Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands, as long as those flights are also traveling to or from another U.S. location on an international route. The bill achieves this by legally treating such stops as an unbroken international journey rather than domestic travel.
Who benefits
Residents of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, who would gain access to more flight options and potentially lower airfares due to increased competition. Tourists and business travelers from Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea traveling to or through these islands. Japanese, Filipino, and South Korean airlines (e.g., Japan Airlines, ANA, Philippine Airlines, Korean Air, Asiana), which would gain new revenue opportunities. The tourism and hospitality industries in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which depend heavily on visitors from these three countries. Cargo shippers and importers/exporters in the region who could benefit from expanded freight capacity and potentially lower shipping costs.
Who is hurt
U.S. domestic airlines — particularly United Airlines, which operates the dominant share of flights to and from Guam — that would face new foreign competition on routes they currently serve with limited rivalry. U.S. airline workers, including pilots, flight attendants, and ground crews, whose unions may argue that foreign carriers operating domestic-equivalent routes undercuts American labor standards and wages. Other U.S. carriers serving the Pacific island market that could lose market share. Potentially, U.S. cargo carriers operating in the region who could face increased competition from foreign freight operators.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are geographically isolated U.S. territories in the Western Pacific, thousands of miles from the continental United States, and that their residents and economies are uniquely dependent on air connectivity with nearby Asian nations. They contend that the current cabotage restriction effectively limits competition on these routes, keeping airfares artificially high and constraining the tourism-driven economies of these islands. Given that Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea are the primary sources of visitors to these territories, allowing their carriers to operate connecting service would expand access, lower costs, and strengthen regional economic ties without meaningfully threatening the broader U.S. domestic aviation market.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that the cabotage rule exists to protect U.S. airlines and their workers from foreign competition that may operate under different labor, safety, or subsidy regimes, and that creating exceptions — even narrow ones — sets a precedent that could be expanded over time. They contend that U.S. carriers already serve these routes and that introducing foreign competition could reduce their profitability on thin Pacific routes, potentially leading to service cuts or job losses for American aviation workers. Critics may also argue that the bill selectively advantages three specific countries' airlines without a transparent, competitive framework for determining which foreign carriers should receive such access.
Constitutional context
Congress has broad authority to regulate foreign and interstate commerce under the Commerce Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 3), which has long been understood to include aviation and international trade. This bill modifies an existing statutory framework rather than delegating new rulemaking authority to an agency, so it does not raise significant major questions doctrine concerns under West Virginia v. EPA (2022) or post-Loper Bright agency deference issues.
Checks and balances
Congress gains authority to define the scope of foreign carrier access to U.S. territories; the Department of Transportation retains its existing role in certifying and overseeing foreign air carrier permits, and existing bilateral aviation agreements with Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea provide a diplomatic check on implementation.
Historical precedent
The Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) established similar cabotage protections for maritime shipping, and Congress has periodically granted territory-specific waivers — most notably for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands after hurricanes — providing a precedent for geographically targeted exceptions to cabotage rules.