ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates, represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority, has signed an air services Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and initialed an Air Services Agreement (ASA) with the government of the Republic of Kosovo in Pristina, recently. The agreement was initialed by Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and Dritan Gjonbalaj, Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of Kosovo.
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. Al Suwaidi stressed the importance of open sky agreements like the one signed with Kosovo, which will contribute to boost the trade, tourism and investment between UAE and Kosovo, taking into account that now the designated carriers of the UAE and Kosovo can operate direct services between the two countries. 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 UAE delegation designated Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, RAK Airways and FlyDubai as UAE national airlines under the agreement. The Kosovo delegation will designate its airlines in due course. UAE now has air services agreements with over 150 countries, of which 114 are open skies or fully liberal arrangements. Representatives from Abu Dhabi Department of Transport, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline attended the negotiations. – SG
