India, Greece sign open-air pact

Sept 15, 2016: India and Greece have agreed to allow unlimited number of flights into each other’s countries under a memorandum of understanding.

Under the new agreement, unlimited flights from Greece would now be able to fly to six Indian metropolitan airports. Indian carriers however, can fly to Greece without any such restriction.

India, under the new civil aviation policy, plans to enter into ‘open sky’ air service agreements (ASA) with SAARC countries and with countries beyond 5,000 km radius from Delhi.

Countries sign ASAs through bilateral negotiations to decide on the number of flights that airlines can fly into each other’s countries. Under the open sky pact, there is no restriction on flights or seats.

At present, India has an open sky agreement with the U.S. and a near open sky agreement with the U.K. The open skies with Britain covers airports excluding London Heathrow.