Chile, India sign 'open skies' air cargo pact

Chile and India have signed a bilateral agreement for an open skies policy on air cargo and liberalising passenger transport services, Chile's Civil Aeronautic Council (JAC) said on Monday 3 September. The two countries previously had a more limited agreement.

The new treaty grants cargo transport an "unlimited numbers of these services from and to Chile or India, using any type of aircraft and with full traffic rights to, from, or via any intermediary", the government said in a statement. But rights to cabotage — the transport of cargo between two points within a country by a foreign carrier — were excluded.

For Chile, the pact gives them access to one of the world's fastest growing economies. "We're allowing operators to transport cargo to a gigantic market, whose foreign trade grew 162 per cent last year," JAC secretary general Jorge Frei said about the agreement, which he said would also help to increase air passenger traffic between the two countries.