The United Arab Emirates, represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), has signed an Open Skies agreement with the Government of the Finland. The agreement was signed by H.E Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, and H.E Ilkka-Pekka Similä, Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to UAE.
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 Delegation of Finland designated its national airlines.
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.
Ms. Laila Ali Bin Hareb Al Muhairi, Executive Director of Strategy and International Affair, said that UAE ranks 2nd internationally in terms of open skies agreements.
UAE now has air services agreements with over 160 countries, of which 122 are open skies or fully liberal arrangements.
Source: UAE GCAA