Yes, this is an example of 5th freedom rights, i.e. carrying fare paying passengers between two points in two different countries in which the airline is not based. The basis of 5th freedom rights started in the principle that airlines of member states (members of ICAO that signed up to each subsequent convention) would be able to make a transit stop at any airport in any other member state. However the airline was not permitted to carry fare paying passengers from that point onto another country without the permission of the member state.

With the exception of only a few routes, nowadays we tend to look on 5th freedom rights as being exclusively related to picking up passengers to take to another country, because the majority of long haul routes can no be served non-stop.

This issue is also related to the 7th Article of the convention which relates to cabotage, in which an airline based in one country can pick up and carry passengers between two domestic points in another country. Although in the Qantas case this is 5th freedom only, not 7th (cabotage) because it is between the US and Canada.

Liberalisation of various markets, including the EU have led to situations in which airlines, through ‘open-skies’ agreements can undertake unrestricted flights between countries in which their not based, including domestic flights.