The UAE has initialled the Air Services Agreement (ASA) and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Spain.

Heading the UAE delegation to Madrid is minister of development for government sector Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori in his capacity as the chairman of General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

He signed the agreement with the Spanish government represented by the minister of development of Spain Magdalena Alvarez Arza.

The signing-ceremony was also attended by director general of GCAA Mohammed Ghanim Al Ghaith and other senior officials representing both parties.

The agreement includes multi designations. The designated airlines of each party will be permitted to operate unlimited weekly passenger frequencies and capacity in each direction with any type of aircraft, and to operate all cargo services with full traffic rights including fifth freedom traffic right without any restrictions.

'This agreement is the first ASA signed between UAE and a European country that refers to the European Horizontal Agreement, initialled between UAE and the European Community in Brussels on 24 January 2007,' said Al Mansouri.

'With the vast growth and fast expansion of our national carriers, we came to play a major role in opening new routes that meet the current and future requirements of our market. On the other hand, this will also encourage the tourism sector and investments between UAE and European countries,' he added.

The initialled ASA comes into force from the date of signature of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on October 25, 2007. - TradeArabia News Service