DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has initialled an Air Service Agreement on Open Skies basis and signed an MoU with the Government of Gabon.
The agreement was signed by Capt. Khalid Humaid Al Ali, director of Air Transport Department in GCAA, and H.E OYINAMONO Dominique, director general of the civil aviation authority of Gabon.
The two delegations agreed that any number of designated airlines of both parties will have the right to perform scheduled air services between the two countries.
The MoU allows full flexibility on the routes, capacity, number of frequencies and types of aircraft, in any type of service (passenger or cargo). The signed memorandum also includes the exercise of fifth freedom traffic rights. In addition, both Parties agreed to allow unrestricted non-scheduled / charter operations between the two countries.
Said Al Suwaidi, director general, GCAA, stressed the importance of open sky agreements like the one signed with Gabon, which will contribute to boost trade, tourism and investment between UAE and Africa.
Laila Ali Bin Hareb Al Muhairi, assistant of director general of strategy and international affair, said that UAE ranks 2nd internationally on term of Open Skies agreements said: “United Arab Emirates is driven more than ever to continue its international collaboration in air transport and shall continue its far-reaching and sound advances toward opening and liberating skies with countries of the world.”
The Gabonese delegation met a number of GCAA officials to discuss opportunities of collaboration among both states, notably in terms of training. GCAA runs a training program to host and train a number of African aviation professionals and has hosted trainees from Ghana, Liberia, Sudan, South Africa, among others, over the past two years.
UAE now has air services agreements with over 168 countries, of which 122 are open skies or liberal agreements.
