India, New Zealand 'Open Sky Policy' to boost cooperation

India and New Zealand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in civil aviation, which will cover the scheduling of new routes, code share services, traffic rights and capacity entitlement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed on Tuesday.

The MoU was signed by Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and David Pine, the New Zealand High Commissioner in the presence of Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and Damien O’ Connor, the Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Agriculture, Biosecurity, Land Information, and Rural Communities of New Zealand.

Notably, an Air Services Agreement was signed between New Zealand and India at Auckland on May 1, 2016.

Both governments have reviewed the existing arrangements relating to air service between the two countries. The MoU signed today is expected to further boost the bilateral ties in civil aviation between the two countries, the ministry stated

According to the MoU, the designated airline(s) of New Zealand may operate any number of services with any type of aircraft, with third and fourth freedom traffic rights to/from six points in India, namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.

Speaking on the occasion, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “Today is an important day for Civil Aviation air services between India and New Zealand. We have signed an MoU that has opened the possibilities of furthering of air transport between our two countries. The open sky policy has been put in place. The point of calls has been increased. We have also increased intermediate points.”

The designated airlines of India may operate any number of services with any type of aircraft with third and fourth freedom traffic rights to/from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and three more points in New Zealand to be named by the Government of the Republic of India, the ministry added.

The designated airlines of both parties may operate any number of all-cargo services with any type of aircraft with third, fourth and fifth freedom traffic rights to/from any points in the territory of the other party via any intermediate points and to any beyond points regardless of the points specified in the Route Schedule.

(ANI)