European Commission and Sri Lanka sign aviation agreement

The European Commission last week said that it has signed an aviation agreement with Sri Lanka which will remove nationality restrictions in bilateral agreements.

The ‘horizontal aviation’ agreement will put several provisions in bilateral aviation agreements between Sri Lanka and the 15 European Union member states in line with EU legislation.

The horizontal agreement will also remove nationality restrictions that restrict air traffic rights to Sri Lanka, for the airlines that have signed an agreement with the country.

The horizontal agreement will allow any EU airline to operate flights between Sri Lanka and any EU member state in which it is established, where a bilateral agreement between the EU member state concerned and Sri Lanka already exists and traffic rights are available.

The agreement will restore a sound legal basis for developing future aviation relations between Sri Lanka and EU Member States.