H.E. Dr. Ahmed Albanna, UAE Ambassador to India paid courtesy call to H.E Shri. P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Hon’ble, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India on Wednesday, 12th July 2017. |
In the meeting, H.E. Dr. Ahmed Albanna was accompanied by Mr. Ahmad Alfalahi, Commercial Attaché of UAE to India and H.E. P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju discussed various issues to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries. They held the series of interactions of new agreement and policy that seeks to bolster the aviation sector by tapping its high growth potential towards India-UAE ties forward.
H.E. Dr. Ahmed Albanna, mentioned India and United Arab Emirates air routes are some of the most lucrative in the world. Currently, the UAE - Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras-Al-Khaimah has one Air Service agreement and four MOUs with India. He also explained, Carriers from India and the UAE can now fly a total of 131,741 aircraft seats a week, each way. These are divided between Dubai (62,500), Abu Dhabi (50,000), Sharjah (17,841) and Ras-Al-Khaimah (1,400). In the existing MOUs, Dubai sector have exhausted their bilateral seat capacities and Sharjah has surpassed 80% load required to restart the negotiations. Both the parties, agreed to set up the meeting between General authority of civil aviation of UAE and Civil Aviation of India to review the Air Service Agreement in the near future. |
If the proposal goes through, the new agreement will likely to lead more flights and flexibility in their operations and trigger a fresh round of negotiations for enhancement of bilateral rights between India and UAE. It also allows both the countries to designate any number of airlines for operation of mutually agreed services for which the respective country shall grant appropriate authorization and permission.
H.E. Dr. Ahmed Albanna and H.E. Shri P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju discussed various facets of the UAE – India bilateral relations and vowed to work together to further enhance mutual cooperation. |
