India, Greece sign open air pact: All about it

Greece has become the first country with which India has inked an open sky agreement under the new aviation policy.

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• It is the first agreement that has been undertaken after the finalisation of the civil aviation policy in June

• At present, there are no direct flights between India and Greece and passengers travel one stop via Gulf States or Turkey to Greece. In fact, there was no air services agreement between India and Greece till now, thus preventing the start of air services between two countries

• The open skies agreement will allow airlines from India to operate unlimited number of flights to Greece, while Greek carriers have been granted unlimited traffic rights to six Indian metro cities.

• According to the civil aviation policy, the government can enter into an 'open sky' air services agreement on a reciprocal basis with SAARC nations, as well as countries with territory located entirely beyond a 5,000 kilometre radius from New Delhi

• Open sky beyond 5,000-km, even without any restrictions, will have very limited or no impact as there is very low demand for additional bilateral on these routes

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