Last Sunday, the Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT), in full-page advertisements in two newspapers, announced that on November 16, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had initialled an air transport agreement.
That means the agreement has to be ratified by the governments of TT and the UAE and confirmed by the exchange of diplomatic notes before taking full effect.
Most bilateral air service agreements (BASAs), assuming the initialled air transport agreement is a BASA, would have a clause that allows the agreement to take provisional effect on being initialled.
According to the advertisement, the agreement, once in force, will facilitate direct air links between TT and the UAE, promoting greater connectivity and increased accessibility.
For over ten years, the UAE has been seeking to enter into a BASA with TT. However, such efforts were thwarted because, at that time, there were no diplomatic relations between the UAE and TT.
A similar situation exists with Qatar, which wants to sign a BASA with TT, but this effort is constrained as TT and Qatar are yet to establish diplomatic relations.
BASAs provide for the grants of rights to airlines of the state parties to operate air services into each other’s territory in accordance with the freedoms of the air.
The UAE is an elective monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates, consisting of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. Each emirate is an absolute monarchy governed by a ruler, and together the rulers form the Federal Supreme Council, the highest constitutional authority in the UAE.
[caption id="attachment_1046623" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley with Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the inaugural Caricom-Saudi Arabia Summit. - OPM[/caption]
The UAE has two major international airlines, Etihad, based in Abu Dhabi, and Emirates, based in Dubai.
Etihad Airways, which is based at Abu Dhabi International Airport, began operations in November 2003. It is the second-largest airline in the UAE after Emirates. The name Etihad is Arabic for "union," representing the unity of the seven emirates of the UAE.
Etihad operates more than 1,000 flights per week to over 120 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, with a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft.
Etihad’s long-range fleet, consisting of the Airbus A380, the Airbus 350, the Boeing 777 and the Boeing 787 aircraft, has the range to fly non-stop services to Caribbean destinations, including TT.
However, none of the airports in the English-speaking Caribbean can accommodate an A380 aircraft because of its size.
Emirates is the largest flag-carrier of the UAE and the largest airline in the Middle East. It began operations in March 1985. The airline is a subsidiary of the Emirates Group, which is owned by Dubai's Investment Corporation. Emirates operat
