The tradition of bilateral air service agreements derives from the 1944 Chicago Convention that established the International Civil Aviation Organisation and provided the world-wide framework within which international aviation operates to this day. Under those traditional bilateral agreements it was a common, and probably universal, requirement for the airlines of the respective countries to be owned and controlled by nationals of one or other of the countries concerned. This arrangement reflected the normal approach to international air transport at that time which was almost entirely conducted by national flag carriers. By contrast, it is relatively recently – only from the beginning of 1993 – that the present liberalised air transport market was established in Europe under which the qualifying criterion for airlines is that a majority of their shares must be held by European nationals rather than nationals of any one state. This is the case with Ryanair which has become one of the most profitable airlines. However, under the existing Ireland-USA bilateral agreement, it would not be entitled to transatlantic traffic rights if it wished to obtain them.