EU-India Sign Horizontal Aviation Agreement

A Horizontal Aviation Agreement was signed between the European Commission (EC) and the Government of the Republic of India last April 8 in Brussels that re-establishes the legal certainty of the bilateral air services agreement between the South Asian nation and 26 member states of the European Union (EU). According to Antonio Tajani, EC vice-president in charge of transport, the pact is a major step toward strengthening relations with India and in opening up new areas of cooperation with the country, which has become an important partner for Europe and also one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world.

Under the new agreement, nationality restrictions in the bilateral air services agreements of India with EU member states will be removed thus allowing any EU airline to operate flights between India and any member state where it is recognized and where a bilateral agreement with the South Asian nation exists and traffic rights are present.

A Joint Action Plan between the European Commission and India was also agreed upon during the summit. The plan will define the priorities and modalities for future technical cooperation for future technical cooperation in different areas of aviation that include aviation safety, sports, air traffic management, environment, and economic regulation.

The accord is the 34th “horizontal” aviation agreement negotiated by the European Commission with India. To date, nearly 700 bilateral air services agreements between EU member states and partner countries from around the world have been brought into conformity with EU law.

The delegation of the European Commission’s was led by Mr. Matthias Ruete, Director General for Energy while the Indian delegation was headed by Mr. Ashok Chawla, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Indian government.

EU-India passenger traffic has increased by 75% in the last three years with close to 5.7 million passengers traveling between the European Union and India In 2007. India is ranked 11th in terms of passenger traffic between 27 EU and non-EU countries.

Source: Europa Press Room at http://europa.eu