Global Airport News
Canada and the European Union signed an "open skies" pact on Wednesday under which airlines from the two trading partners will be able to fly freely between any airport in the 27-country EU and any in Canada.
"This will generate major benefits for consumers and airlines … and will make the EU-Canada aviation market one of the most open in the world," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference.
The deal will replace an existing patchwork of bilateral agreements between Canada and European states, which include restrictions on routes, prices and the number of weekly flights.
The agreement will also ease restrictions on control and ownership of airlines and follows a similar pact between the European Union and the United States in March last year.
The deal came at the start of talks on a trade pact worth an additional $27 billion each year to the combined economies of Canada and the EU, suffering from weakening trade amid the financial crisis.
