Bosnia and UAE ink air agreement

NEWS FLASH

The Minister of Communication and Traffic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ismir Jusko, and the head of the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, have signed an Open Skies Agreement in Dubai, further liberalising air transport between the two countries. The two sides agreed that any number of designated airlines of both parties will have the right to perform scheduled air services. The UAE designated Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, and Flydubai as UAE national airlines under the agreement. Without its own carrier, Bosnia and Herzegovina has not designated any airlines on its behalf, although it can add them to the agreement in the future.

The deal allows full flexibility on routes, capacity, number of frequencies and types of aircraft, in any type of service (both passenger and cargo). The signed agreement also includes the exercise of fifth freedom traffic rights. In addition, both parties agreed to allow unrestricted non scheduled and charter operations amongst each other. Currently, Flydubai maintains services between Dubai and Sarajevo, while Air Arabia runs seasonal flights from Sharjah to the Bosnian capital. The United Arab Emirates now has free sky arrangements in place with all countries from the former Yugoslavia.