The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently decided a case between a number of foreign airlines and the Dade County Port Authority as operator of the Miami International Airport. This case concerned the question of whether foreign airlines were bound to pay airport charges at a higher rate than some comparable American airlines. The plaintiff airlines claimed that the rates imposed by the Airport violated the applicable provisions of the Chicago Conventions The Port Authority denied this and opposed the claim on factual as well as legal grounds. For a proper understanding of the case we have to turn to the preceding history first.