The General Authority of Civil Aviation updates an Air Service Agreement with Greece and signs a Memorandum of understanding with Cyprus

Riyadh March 19, 2018

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of Cyprus.  The memorandum includes agreement about opening the airspace between the two countries for all types of commercial air transport.  GACA have held bilateral negotiations with the Aviation Authority of Cyprus that resulted to the agreement of updating the bilateral air service agreement that was signed in 2002; until both parties complete the regular procedures needed.

The draft memorandum of understanding is part of the executive program signed by the Transport Minister, Chairman of GACA, Dr. Nabeel Alamoudi, and the former Minister of Transport, Communications and Work of Cyprus, Mr. Marius Dimitriads, which was signed in the first half 2018.

On the other hand, GACA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Greece completed its bilateral discussions to reach a new version of the draft bilateral agreement that was signed at an earlier date.  This resulted in updating the existing bilateral agreement signed by the two countries in advance to comply with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and related international conferences and forums.  This all in preparation to the signature of the final draft.  The project included several regulatory provisions for the rights granted and other items related to safety, aviation security and commercial opportunities for the air carriers of the two countries.

It is worth mentioning that the two draft agreements are in line with the development of the air transport sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to the continuous efforts by GACA to enhance its position in the field of international relations between the Kingdom and countries around the world.  This will allow the national carriers to expand their network of operational plans.