India Ministry of Civil Aviation: India and Austria hold Delegation Level Talks to Enhance Coopearti

A high powered delegation led by Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology of Austria Mrs. Doris Bures met the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Ajit Singh in New Delhi today. The two sides discussed possibilities of enhancing bilateral cooperation in Civil Aviation sector.

In his opening remarks Shri Singh said that the growth of air services between the two countries will greatly facilitate cordial relationship, connectivity, trade and tourism. He recalled that the association between the two countries goes back to the year 1989 when both the countries signed an Air Services Agreement (ASA).

During the talks India raised the issue of Substantial Ownership and Effective Control of Austrian Airlines due to its takeover by Lufthansa. Austrian side was requested to clarify the shareholding pattern of the Austrian Airlines. Shri Singh said that the issue has to be resolved through discussions between the concerned authorities of the two countries keeping in mind the legal and rule position.

India and Austria had held the last round of talks during ICAN, 2011 in Mumbai when a MoU was also signed between the two countries. Both sides had agreed to amend Article 3 of the existing ASA to give each contracting party the right to designate one or more airlines for operations. Both sides had also agreed to incorporate therein the provisions relating to liberalization of all cargo services, cooperative marketing arrangements, routing flexibility and intermodal services in the existing ASA.

Presently Austrian Airlines is operating six services a week between Vienna and Delhi. The capacity entitlements are 14 services per week for each side in each direction.