EU gives green light to pursue air traffic deals with UAE, Qatar

EU member states gave the green light on Tuesday for the European Commission to pursue air traffic agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and countries in southeast Asia to try to support its airlines.

Europe’s aviation industry, which contributes 110 billion euros ($123 billion) to EU gross domestic product, has been hit by the rapid expansion of Gulf airlines such as Emirates , Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, as well as shifting traffic flows to Asia.

The Commission, the EU’s executive, asked member governments in December to give it a mandate to start talks on air transport agreements with countries including China, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Qatar.

Such agreements, now often done on a bilateral basis by individual governments, would set out where and how often foreign airlines could fly into the EU, and vice versa.

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