Govt approves air services pact with UAE

The Govt approved an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to enable any number of airlines to fly to each other's destinations and enter into commercial agreements and code-share.

The government on Thursday approved an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to enable any number of airlines to fly to each other's destinations and enter into commercial agreements and code-share.

HT Image

The Cabinet approved the proposed air services agreement, which would be signed soon. Discussions between the two sides on it were held in February this year, an official spokesperson said.

Under the agreement, which supersedes the previous one signed in 1989, both countries would be entitled to designate any number of airlines for operating mutually agreed services and enter into cooperative marketing arrangements like code- share or other commercial arrangements.

The designated airlines would be free to decide tariffs at reasonable levels, based on commercial considerations, the agreement says, adding that each of the parties would have the right to intervene to prevent tariffs which would constitute "anti-competitive behaviour" or would "cripple" competition on a route.

Both countries, under the agreement, would follow the obligations to protect the security of civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference, the spokesperson said.

The agreement would be signed on behalf of the two countries after approval by both sides and its implementation watched by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the spokesperson said.

In another decision, the Cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between India and the League of Arab States to establish an India-Arab Cooperation Forum. This, the spokesperson said, would lead to enhanced friendship and relations between India and the Arab world.