India and Canada have discussed a revision in the bilateral air service agreement allowing more flights between the two countries.
Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has been on a nine-day visit to the US and Canada, met Omar Alghabra, Canadian Transport Minister, on May 4.
After the meeting, the Canadian Minster has reportedly stated that they are looking forward to more conversations to open up travel, including flights to Amritsar.
“I personally thanked my counterpart for India’s help in repatriating Canadians stuck in India at the beginning of the pandemic,” Alghabra said on Twitter. Alghabra added that he had a productive meeting with his Indian counterpart on issues of mutual importance to Canada and India.
“We spoke about expanding the Air Transport Agreement that will allow more flights between the two countries,” he added.
For the airlines of a particular country to operate international flights to another country, the two sides have to negotiate and sign a “bilateral air service agreement”. The bilateral air service agreement decides how many flights per week can be operated from one country to the other. If such an agreement is signed, each country is free to allocate the bilateral rights to its respective airlines. But there must be slots at both airports to start flight operations even after the agreement.
Scindia has also met with Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal.
“Together with other ICAO members, India is committed to play an instrumental role in growing the global civil aviation market,” said Scindia.
