Israel and the EU have initialed an open skies agreement. Israel Civil Aviation Authority director Giora Rom and European Commission Senior Policy Officer Klaus Geil today initialed the agreement, which will be submitted to the Israeli government and European Parliament for approval. In March, Israel and the European Commission signed a memorandum of understanding on the agreement.
The Ministry of Transport today called the initialing of the open skies agreement historic, coming after more than three years of negotiations. The initialing came after Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz consented to the agreement and instructed the Civil Aviation Authority to sign it.
The agreement will liberalize air travel between Israel and the EU, and may sharply lower air fares, and open new European destinations without restriction. The ministry says that the agreement will also encourage European tourism in Israel.
The Ministry of Transport believe that implementation of the open skies agreement will begin in a few months, and take several years, in order to give Israeli airlines time to adapt to the new competitive market structure. As part of the gradual implementation, seven weekly flights will be added to all European destinations, and three weekly flights will be added to a limited number of airport hubs, which currently have substantial passenger traffic from Israel and a large number of follow-on destinations.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 30, 2012
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