India, New Zealand Join Hands To Boost Cooperation In Civil Aviation Sector

The Government of India and the Government of New Zealand have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in the air transport services.

This will cover the scheduling of new routes, code share services, traffic rights and capacity entitlement.

An air services agreement was signed between New Zealand and India at Auckland on 1 May 2016. Both the countries have reviewed the existing arrangements relating to air services.

The MoU signed on Tuesday (29 August) is expected to further boost the bilateral ties in civil aviation between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradatiya Scindia said, “Today is an important day for civil aviation air services between India and New Zealand. We have signed an MoU that has opened the possibilities of furthering of air transport between our two countries. The open sky policy has been put in place. The point of calls has been increased. We have also increased intermediate points.”

The designated airline(s) of India may operate any number of services with any type of aircraft with third and fourth freedom traffic rights to/from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and three more points in New Zealand to be named by the Indian government.

According to the MoU, the designated airlines of both parties may operate any number of all-cargo services with any type of aircraft with third, fourth and fifth freedom traffic rights to/from any points in the territory of the other party, via any intermediate point(s) and to any beyond point(s) regardless of the points specified in the route schedule.

The MoU was signed by civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal, and New Zealand high commissioner David Pine, in the presence of Scindia and Minister for Trade and Export Growth of New Zealand, Damien O’ Connor.