Emirates secures 60 aviation agreements

By John Oyuke

Emirates Airline has announced it has through the support of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government secured over 60 open or highly liberal aviation agreements, following further recent liberalisation success in Latin America, Africa and Europe.

The 60th and 61st agreements, with Brazil and Panama, are the latest negotiations this year that allow carriers of each partner country to offer largely open services between each market.

It follows eight other open deals successfully concluded during the course of this year.

The US, UK, Spain, Thailand, Singapore, Switzerland, Malaysia, Chile, New Zealand and Lebanon are among the 60 countries that have signed highly liberal or completely open agreements with the UAE and Dubai.

The President of Emirates, Mr Tim Clark said the recent open skies secured with key economies now represent the majority of Emirates Airline’s air services access worldwide, with an average of six new open or liberalised deals now being signed a year.

"The world, often led by emerging markets, is liberalising faster than many believed possible. This is good news for consumers, traders, exporters and travellers," he said.

The United Arab Emirate’s new open agreements signed this year recognises that unrestricted access to Dubai, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing hubs, allows carriers of the world to grow their services in the prosperous Middle East and Gulf region. It would also boost exports and trade to their own markets, thanks to existing or future Emirates services.

The recent deal with Brazil now means the two countries’ aviation policies are even more closely aligned and will deliver further benefits to both economies through increased tourism, exports and trade.