Jamaica seeks open-skies deal with Switzerland
Published:Wednesday | June 30, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Director General of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Derby confirmed Tuesday that his department had inked an open-skies agreement with Switzerland, to take effect after Cabinet approval.
The agreement is one of several expected to be reached during the third annual International Civil Aviation Organisation Conference for Air Service Negotiations (ICAN) now on in Montego Bay.
Open skies refers to a bilateral and sometimes multilateral air-transport agreement, which aims to liberalise the rules for international aviation markets and minimise government intervention in commercial traffic.
Provisions apply to passenger, all cargo and combination air transportation.
Commercial decisions affected include air-carrier routes, carrier capacity, and pricing.
It was expected that Jamaica would sign at least seven new open-skies agreements with as many countries, at the ICAO conference, which runs from June 27 to July 2, and that some 20 or more contracts would result.
"We should see a number of agreements completed," said Derby.
"We have already initialised the agreement with Switzerland. As soon as it goes to Cabinet and is approved, it will go into effect."
The meeting in Montego Bay involves more than 40 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America.