UAE Likely to Sign Ten Open Sky Deals in 2010

“We are scheduled to have bilateral meetings with 25 countries to explore the possibilities of signing open sky agreements in 2010 , and we hope we will be able to conclude such agreements with at least 10 countries,’’ Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of GCCA told Khaleej Times.

“We have already signed open sky agreements with about 45 countries in the Mena region and with some in Europe, North America and Asia. We are willing to sign open sky agreement with any country which is willing to reciprocate. Recently we signed such a deal with Sri Lanka,” he said.

“We will be signing open sky agreements with Australia and Nepal in the first quarter of 2010. Talks are in progress with India and Pakistan also to work out an open sky agreement with them at the earliest,’’ Al Suwaidi said.

The GCCA official said that the UAE was in discussions with the European Union to have a horizontal agreement on open sky policies instead of talking to individual member countries of the Union.

“May be we will be able to conclude such a horizontal agreement covering all the members European Union by 2010 end or early 2011,’’ he added.

The UAE had earlier joined the European Union, the United States and five other countries to sign the ‘Statement of Policy Principles’ for adopting open sky policies through a multilateral framework instead of the current practice of countries entering into bilateral agreements.

That was a broad declaration appealing to all the countries to join such a multilateral framework, and was not a binding agreement. The ‘Statement of Policy Principles’ was described by Al Suwaidias an important landmark in the efforts to put in place a multilateral framework on open sky policies.

Under the current bilateral framework the airlines are restricted in market access in other countries, until government negotiators conclude agreements to allow cross-border services. Also, at present national ownership requirements do not allow airlines to merge across borders, and this precludes the development of global players, according to the IATA, which was supporting the moves for multilateral framework on aviation policies.

Al Suwaidi had earlier said the UAE had no plans to review its open sky policies to protect its national carriers from international competition even in the backdrop of the global financial downturn. The latest air traffic figures indicate the recession hadnot impacted much the aviation sector in the Middle East as a whole and in the UAE in particular.

ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com