EU/Korea Agreement: air services

The European Parliament adopted by 679 votes to 6, with 3 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Korea on certain aspects of air services.

Following the recommendation of the Committee on Transport and Tourism, Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.

The agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Korea on certain aspects of air services is a Horizontal Aviation Agreement negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of EU Member States and the Republic of Korea, following the judgements of the Court of Justice in the so-called ‘Open Skies’ cases.

The agreement replaces or complements existing bilateral air services agreements between Member States and the Republic of Korea. It was signed on 25 June 2020.

The agreement allows any EU airline to fly to the Republic of Korea from any of the 22 EU Member States, which currently have a bilateral air services agreement with the Republic of Korea.

In addition to the new routes’ opportunities for the EU carriers, the agreement is beneficial for both sides by bringing legal certainty to the commercial operations and ensuring non-discriminative approach to the airlines flying between the two respective territories.