Air Services Agreement with Mauritius
Q. With which of the following countries did India sign an Air Services Agreement?- Published on 25 Aug 16a. Mauritius
b. Malaysia
c. Uruguay
d. Bangladesh
ANSWER: Mauritius
- The ASA with Mauritius was also approved; agreement is for updation of existing Air Services Agreement between the two countries signed on 28th January 1974
- Updation is per ICAO template in that latest developments in the civil aviation sector should be considered and the objective will be to improve air connectivity between the two countries.
Essential features of the ASA are given below:- Both countries should be entitled to designate one/more airline.
- Designated airlines of either country should be permitted to establish offices in the territory of the other country for the promotion and sale of air services
- The designated airlines of the two countries shall have fair and equal opportunity to operate the agreed services on specified routes- routes and frequencies should be decided subsequently
- Designated airline should be free to decide tariffs in respect of the agreed services at reasonable levels based on commercial considerations.
- Designated airline of each party will be allowed to enter into cooperative marketing agreements with the designated carriers of the same party and the other party.
- ASA has provisions pertaining to renovation or suspension of operating authorisation as well.
- Existing route schedule annex to the ASA has been revised and new points of call have been added for enhanced connectivity.
- Now Indian carriers can operate to any points in Fiji from India whereas Fiji carriers can establish direct operation in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and code share in Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad apart from points given for direct operation.
- Kochi, Varanasi, Ahmedabad and Amritsar can be served via domestic code share operations.
