Open Sky Policy with ASEAN by 2012 only
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today said an Open Sky policy with ASEAN appears unrealistic by the year 2010 and his ministry feels such an agreement can only materialise by 2012, provided the interests of Indian carriers are safeguarded. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with European Union officials in the run up to a two-day EU-India Aviation Summit, Patel said the Government has not said no to the proposal, but “many issues need to be calibrated” before arriving at a decision. “Grant of Fifth Freedom rights is one of the issues that needs to be resolved. Also, we feel our airport infrastructure will be able to handle the effects of such an arrangement only by 2012,” Patel said. ASEAN has requested India to join the Open Sky regime to be launched amongst ASEAN nations by 2010. European Commission’s vice-president Jacques Barrot said the summit was the first step towards having close and confident cooperation between Indian and EU and that he had talked to Patel about the need to improve airport infrastructure and how EU could share it’s experiences there. Barrot also said EU had offered cooperation to India in pilot training.
“Although we have not signed an agreement, a direction to move forward has been set. We have to work for a larger framework of aviation cooperation and we will be able to learn from their experiences,” Patel said. Asked about an Open Sky policy with EU, Patel said, “Not immediately, since we have bilateral agreements with member states.” Adding that no firm commitment had been made in that direction, Patel said EU was looking at a broad horizontal agreement with India and the Government was examining it. Beginning Thursday, the two day Indo-EU Aviation Summit is being jointly organised by the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate General for Energy & Transport of the European Commission. The Summit intends to bring together top-level policy makers and industry executives from all sectors involved in the European and Indian aviation and aerospace industries and services providing an important platform for enhancing cooperation between the EU and India in aviation. The potential areas of cooperation between India and EU include political and regulatory developments in aviation, developments in EU-India passenger and cargo markets, infrastructure needs and investment opportunities in the aviation sector, safety and security policies and co-operation, new challenges in commercial aircraft technology and air traffic management and technological and industrial cooperation.
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