Govt approves Horizontal Aviation Agreement with EU

New Delhi, Oct 31 (PTI) Government Friday said it has
approved an agreement with the European Union (E.U.) to bring
all 26 bilateral air services agreements with member nations
in conformity with legal requirement.

"The new arrangement will bring all the existing
bilateral air services agreements between E.U. member states
and India in line with the European Commission law at one go,
thereby obviating any threat of legal challenge," Finance
Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here Friday.

The Union Cabinet gave an ex-post facto approval Thursday
night to the Horizontal Aviation Agreement, signed in
Marseilles on September 28 during Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh visit to France at the India-E.U. Summit, he said.

The landmark pact on civil aviation would work like an
'open skies' agreement, encouraging more airlines to offer
services between the continents.

Nearly 5.7 million passengers travelled between India and
the E.U. in 2007, with India ranking 11th in terms of
passenger traffic between the E.U. and non-E.U. countries.
Over the past three years, passenger traffic on this sector
has grown by 75 percent.

The liberal aviation deal ends 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.

The E.U. has signed 36 such horizontal agreements with
other countries. In total, 750 bilateral air services
agreements between E.U. member states and partner countries
have been brought into conformity with E.U. law.

Though the agreement does not in itself change the number
or frequency of flights between the E.U. and India, officials
said they hoped it would 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, while 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., the officials said.

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

In another related decision, the Union Cabinet approved a
fresh air services agreement with Iran which, among other
things, would allow the designation of any number of airlines
to open any number of services between the two nations,
Chidambaram said.

"There have been many developments in the civil aviation
sector" since the earlier such agreement was signed in June
1980, he added.