European Parliament committee backs EU-Bangladesh air services agreement
European Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee approved (29-Jan-2025) the EU-Bangladesh air services agreement, granting EU airlines non-discriminatory access to routes between Bangladesh and Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, France and Slovakia, where previous bilateral air services agreements with Bangladesh did not already allow non-discriminatory access. Some of these agreements were not open for EU airlines controlled by nationals of other member states, which was found contrary to EU law by the European Court of Justice and rectified by a new horizontal agreement. Originally negotiated in 2013 and updated post-Brexit, the new EU-Bangladesh aviation agreement was signed in Jun-2024, and also includes standard EU clauses on aviation safety, aviation fuel taxation and compatibility with competition. The full European Parliament will vote on the agreement in Feb-2025, with provisional application already in place for Belgium, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. [more - original PR]