“The new agreement makes the EUCanada market one of the most open in the world and is a milestone for EU-Canada relations,” EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said in a statement.
Under the planned accord, EU nationals will be able to establish aviation operations in Canada and freely invest in Canadian airlines and vice versa, once Ottawa relaxes its foreign ownership restrictions on carriers.
Greater investment will be part of the second phase of the agreement between the EU and Canada, and would come along with further traffic rights.
In a third phase, investors would be able to set up and control airlines in each other’s markets and, in a fourth, airlines would be able to fly between and withinCanadian and European markets.