The United Arab Emirates represented by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has signed an air services Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Hellenic Republic in Abu Dhabi on 5th April 2012.
The Memorandum was signed by H.E Mr. Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and H.E Ms. Fofi PAPADIMITROPOULOU, Governor of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority. Representatives from Abu Dhabi Department of Transport, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation, Ras Al Khaimah Department of Civil Aviation, Etihad Airways, Emirates Airline, RAK Airways and flydubai attended the negotiations.
H.E. Al Suwaidi stressed the importance of this Memorandum, which will contribute to boost the trade, tourism and investment between UAE and Greece.
UAE carriers, such as Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways, are currently operating 7 flights a week to Athens. Bilateral tradereports indicate that  non oil trade exchange stood at $117 million in 2010, ranking Greece as 39th UAE’s trade partner.
The two delegations agreed that any number of designated airlines of both parties will have the right to perform scheduled air services. The UAE delegation designated Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, RAK Airways and FlyDubai as UAE national airlines under the Memorandum. The Hellenic Republic designated Olympic Air as Greek national airline under the Memorandum.
The Memorandum allows full flexibility on the routes, capacity, number of frequencies and types of aircraft, in any type of service (passenger or cargo). The signed memorandum also includes the exercise of fifth freedom traffic rights. In addition, both Parties agreed to allow unrestricted non-scheduled / charter operations between the two countries.
UAE now has air services agreements with 146 countries, of which 106 are open skies or fully liberal arrangements.