As per Press Release of GOI, India has inked MoU, Agreed Minutes and Record of Discussions during ICAN (International Civil Aviation Negotiations), 2015 that was held in Antalya, Turkey from 19th to 23rd October, 2015.
Participants – 106 countries out of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) membership of 191 countries
Negotiations – The negotiations were aimed to enhance the international air connectivity from India and to offer the passenger wider choice and seamless connectivity with the help of following:
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 6 countries – Finland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Sweden, Norway &Denmark, Oman and Ethiopia
- Agreed Minutes with 3 countries – Serbia, Greece, European Commission
- Record of Discussions with 2 countries – Brunei Darussalam and Qatar
Important Highlights of MoUs
MoU with Oman
Additional 5131 seats were granted taking the total capacity entitlements from 16018 seats per week to 21149 seats per week for both sides.
- Oman Capital: Muscat
- Oman Currency: Omani rial
MoU with Kazakhstan
To review the endorsed Air Services Agreement (ASA) as per the latest Article 11 of Indian side and also accorded with third country airlines code share and domestic code share operations to four points.
- Capital: Astana
- Currency: Kazakhstani tenge
MoU with Kenya
The capacity entitlements have been increased from 14 frequencies to 21 additional frequencies and Hyderabad was allowed as an additional point of call for the designated carriers of Kenya.
- Capital: Nairobi
- Currency: Kenyan shilling
MoU with Ethiopia
The capacity entitlements were increased from 21 frequencies per week to 28 frequencies per week and Ethiopia was allowed to exchange Bangalore in place of Kolkata as a point of call.
- Capital: Addis Ababa
- Currency: Ethiopian birr
MoU with Finland
Provisions of code share, intermodal services, routing flexibility and open sky on cargo, which are mandatory requirement of Horizontal Agreement coming into force, were agreed by Finland. The domestic code share points for the designated airline of Finland are Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata and were agreed to on 5 points.
- Capital: Helsinki
- Currency: Euro
MoU with Sweden, Norway & Denmark
Mandatory requirement of Horizontal Agreement coming into force was agreed to by the three Scandinavian countries.
With Sweden – Sweden allowed India another new point namely Gothenburg for code share operations.
- Capital: Stockholm
- Currency: Swedish krona
With Norway – India accepted Norway’s request to bring Norway-India bilateral in line with Horizontal Agreement on receiving a letter to this effect from European Council.
- Capital: Oslo
- Currency: Norwegian krone
With Demark – Mandatory requirement of Horizontal Agreement
- Capital: Copenhagen
- Currency: Danish krone