UAE Signs Air Services Agreement with El Salvador

The United Arab Emirates represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) today signed an air services Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and initialed an Air Services Agreement (ASA) with the Government of the Republic of El Salvador. The Memorandum was signed by Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and Roger Antonio Menendez, Executive Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of El Salvador. Representatives from Abu Dhabi Department of Transport, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation, Ras Al Khaimah Department of Civil Aviation, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline attended the negotiations. The two delegations agreed that any number of designated airlines of both parties will have the right to perform scheduled air services. The UAE delegation designated Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, RAK Airways and FlyDubai as UAE national airlines under the Agreement. The El Salvador Delegation will designate its airlines in due course. The MoU allows full flexibility on the routes, capacity, number of frequencies and types of aircraft, in any type of service (passenger or cargo). The signed memorandum also includes the exercise of fifth freedom traffic rights. In addition, both parties agreed to allow unrestricted non-scheduled / charter operations between the two countries. Saif Al Suwaidi stressed the importance of this Agreement, which will further boost the travel and trade between UAE and El Salvador. The UAE now has air services agreements with over 150 countries, of which 117 are open skies or fully liberal arrangements.