India, EU sign pact on civil aviation

Marseilles (France), Sept 29 (PTI) India and the
European Union (E.U.) signed a landmark pact on civil aviation
which will work like an 'open skies' agreement encouraging
more airlines to offer services between the two continents.

The Horizontal Civil Aviation Agreement (H.C.C.A.) that
will effectively legalise 26 separate deals, which India had
held with individual EU member states, was signed here Sunday
night on the eve of their ninth annual India-E.U. Summit.

The deal was inked by India's ambassador to the E.U., J.
Bhagwati and officials from the French government and the
E.U.'s bureaucracy just ahead of the talks between Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
the current holder of the E.U.'s rotating presidency, in the
French port city of Marseille.

The aviation deal described as a liberal pact puts an end
to nearly six years of legal uncertainty which began when the
European Court in November 2002 decided that bilateral deals
on civil aviation services between E.U. member states and
third countries discriminated against airlines from other E.U.
states.

It does not in itself change the number or frequency of
flights between the E.U. and India, but E.U. officials said
they hope it will encourage more airlines to offer services
between the continents.

Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines can hope
to get more access to European destinations. E.U. carriers can
also have better access to India.

In a way, the pact will work like an 'open skies'
agreement between India and the E.U., officials said.

The agreement between two of the world's largest trading
partners provides far more flexibility than the air service
arrangements being pursued by India with individual E.U.
members.

The E.U. has similar agreements with China and the U.S.
Currently, 26 bilateral air services agreements exists between
E.U. members and India.

The agreement would also allow people from either side to
book an integrated ticket for travelling by different modes of
transport such as road, rail, air and sea. It will also ensure
technical cooperation between the two sides in areas like
aviation safety, security and traffic management.

The pact would remove nationality restrictions (from the
E.U. side) in the bilateral air services agreements between
E.U. members and India. This would allow any designated
airline from the member states and India to operate flights to
each other's side where a bilateral agreement with India
exists and traffic rights are available.

It is estimated that the U.S. and the E.U. traffic
constitutes about 30 percent of India's total global air
traffic, next to the Gulf (40 percent). The monthly
international traffic to and from India in April 2008 stood at
2.47 million, up 8.5 percent over 2.28 million in the same
period last year.

India is one of the world's fastest growing aviation
markets and it is of increasing strategic importance to the
E.U. and its industry.

Given the strong growth and infrastructure challenges
facing India's aviation sector there are prospects of
enhancing cooperation in civil aviation with India, an E.U.
official said, adding the scope for cooperation is huge and
will benefit both India and E.U. industry.

In 2004, India and the E.U. upgraded their already strong
relationship into a strategic partnership. This strategic
partnership is underpinned by an agreed joint action plan in
which civil aviation plays a key enabling role.

Since the adoption of this plan in September 2005,
cooperation in this area has been given new impetus.