The European Union and Switzerland signed new agreements to deepen their existing relationship, which, among others, includes mutual ninth-freedom traffic rights for air carriers.
The Aviation Agreement, a part of a broad suite of new and revised agreements, provides unlimited ninth-freedom traffic rights for Swiss-certified carriers to fly within the European Union and for EU-based operators to fly within Switzerland. While the two jurisdictions have already fully liberalised international traffic rights, the earlier agreements did not include cabotage rights.
The agreement also foresees the harmonisation of state aid rules, including in aviation, to bring Swiss laws in line with those in the EU.
The new agreement will have to be approved by the Council of the European Union (the institution comprising representatives of all member states of the bloc) as well as the Swiss parliament, and receive the consent of the European Parliament before entering into force.
