India, Malaysia sign revised air services pact

New Delhi, July 16 (UNI) India and Malaysia have revised air services agreement, ending a long-standing row.

Both sides met on July 12 and 13 in Kuala Lumpur and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which provides civil aviation authorities from both countries to designate any number of airlines to operate on India-Malaysia route.

The capacity entitlement for designated airlines of both countries has been significantly liberalised which will lead to progressive enhancement of traffic rights over the next two years, said an official statement issued here today.

Malaysian carriers can now operate any number of services to and from 18 tourist destinations in India -- Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli.

Airlines from India are now entitled to operate unlimited direct services from any point in India to Johor Bahru in Malaysia.

To increase air services and make operations commercially viable, a provision of codeshare arrangement has been agreed to. For all cargo services, there will be open sky policy without any restrictions.

As a direct outcome of the talks, operations of Air India Express on the India-Malaysia route are likely to start soon, said the statement.

UNI