European Union governments have given EU transport chief Violeta Bulc the go-ahead to negotiate aviation agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Turkey.
An agreement with ASEAN will be historic as it will be the first European Union (EU) bloc-to-bloc aviation agreement. Agreements with the Arabian Gulf states are more controversial and set up a potential clash over alleged unfair subsidies to airlines based in the UAE and Qatar, that has been simmering for quite some time. The importance of the agreement with the Gulf states can be seen in the fact that the UAE has more direct traffic with the EU than China, India and Japan combined, according to the commission.
