India recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with six countries namely Finland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Oman and Ethiopia and “Agreed Minutes”with Serbia, Greece, European Commission and “Record of Discussions” with Brunei Darussalam and Qatar at the recently concluded International Civil Aviation Negotiations (ICAN), 2015 in Antalya, Turkey,
The conference was attended by 106 countries out of ICAO membership of 191 countries.
The main features of the negotiations are as under:-
Oman
A MoU was signed with Oman whereby, additional 5131 seats were granted taking the total capacity entitlements from 16018 seats per week to 21149 seats per week for both sides.
Kazakhstan
The two sides agreed to review the initialled Air Services Agreement (ASA) as per the latest Article 11 given by the Indian side. Third country airlines code share and domestic code share operations to four points was also agreed to by both sides.
Kenya
The two sides signed aMoU, whereby the capacity entitlements have been increased from 14 frequencies for each side to 21 additional frequencies and Hyderabad was allowed as an additional point of call for the designated carriers of Kenya. Domestic code share was agreed to from any 4 points by both sides. Kenya agreed to grant one additional point, intermediate and beyond point with full 5th freedom rights in Africa to India.
Ethiopia
A MoU was signed between both the sides by capacity entitlements were increased from the existing 21 frequencies per week to 28 frequencies per week for both sides. Ethiopia was allowed to exchange Bangalore in place of Kolkata as a point of call. Three additional domestic code share points exclusively to code share with Air India were granted namely Jaipur, Kolkata and Pune.
Finland
A MoU was signed with Finland by which the provisions namely code share, intermodal services, routing flexibility and open sky on cargo, which are mandatory requirement of Horizontal Agreement coming into force were agreed to by Finland. Further domestic code share was agreed to on 5 points in the territory of both parties. The domestic code share points for the designated airline of Finland are Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata. For the designated airlines of India, these additional points would be specified by India at a later date.
Sweden, Norway and Denmark
A MoU was entered into by both the parties by which 4 provisions namely, code shares, intermodal, routing flexibility and open sky on cargo, which is a mandatory requirement of Horizontal Agreement coming into force was agreed to by the three Scandinavian countries. India accepted Norway’s request to bring Norway-India bilateral in line with Horizontal Agreement on receiving a letter to this effect from European Council. Sweden allowed India another new point namely Gothenburg for code share operations.
Moreover, the Indian delegation also met the delegations from Greece, Serbia, Qatar, European Inion, and Brunei Darussalam and discussed about expansion of air services between India and these countries.
The above negotiations would enhance the international air connectivity from India and would offer the passenger wider choice and seamless connectivity.
