Tonga has signed an agreement on air transport services with the United Arab Emirates on October 19, at the General Civil Aviation Authority headquarters in Dubai.

This is aimed at strengthening bilateral air relations between the two countries.

The agreement was signed by Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the UAE GCAA and Akau'ola, Tonga's Ambassador to the UAE.

Al Suwaidi said in all circumstances, GCAA is always seeking to open new horizons to support the national carriers of the United Arab Emirates, and it was agreed to apply the open skies policy in this agreement.

This agreement is considered a new addition to the air transport services agreements signed by the UAE with the countries of the world, bringing the total of the signed agreements to 185, maintaining the UAE’s first position in the world in the number of signed agreements.

He said the authority aims to conclude open skies agreements to expand commercial and tourism links and support national carriers such as Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines, Air Arabia and Fly Dubai as well as two recently established airlines, Al Arabia-Abu Dhabi and WizzAir Abu Dhabi, bringing the number of national carriers registered in the country to six.

This number of national carriers reflects the size of the civil aviation sector in the country and its impact on global air connectivity, he said.