The Sultanate, represented by the Public Authority for Civil Aviation, participated in the twelfth ICAN conference for negotiations on air transport services ICAN2019, which was held this year in the city of Aqaba in the sisterly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan during the period from 2 to 6 December 2019.

The ICAN conference, organized annually by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is a central gathering of civil aviation authorities in various countries of the world in the presence of their national carriers, during which bilateral and multilateral discussions are held in the field of air transport. As 578 participants representing delegations from 61 countries of the world participated in this year, they held 420 bilateral meetings, which resulted in the signing of more than 400 agreements and memoranda of understanding.

The Sultanate’s delegation participating in the conference chaired by the authority in the presence of a representative of the national carrier of the Sultanate (Oman Air) held bilateral air transport discussions with the delegations of 16 countries during which the organizational and operational aspects in the field of air transport and civil aviation were discussed between the Sultanate and those countries.

His Excellency Dr. Mohammad bin Nasser bin Ali Al-Zaabi – Executive president of the Public Authority for Civil Aviation stated that the Authority has achieved through its participation in the conference good results that culminated in reaching new bilateral agreements in the field of air transport with a number of 6 countries in addition to signing memoranda of understanding and records of discussions. Organizing operational matters with a number of other countries.

Where new agreements were reached in the field of transportation with Paraguay, Jamaica, Namibia, Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone and Zambia, all of which are based on the principles and principles of open skies to operate any number of trips between the Sultanate and those countries through any mid-points and points beyond the Sultanate and those countries. His Excellency also stated that one of the most important results reached during participation in this conference was the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the delegation of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to raise regular flights between the airports of the two countries to reach 56 flights for passengers and 21 flights for air freight per week.

This has been emphasized by His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Zaabi - Executive president of the Authority that the participation of the Authority in this conference comes from its keenness to consolidate relations in the field of air transport with its counterparts in various countries of the world and a desire to increase operational rights between the Sultanate and other countries.

His Excellency indicated that the Sultanate has become associated with air transport agreements with 110 countries of the world, and the authority seeks to liberalize the air transport market in the Sultanate by negotiating with the civil aviation authorities in various countries in a serious and ambitious step to open the way for national carriers of the Sultanate (Oman Air and Salam Air Airlines) To extend their operating networks to airports of various countries. As well as attracting international airlines to operate to the Sultanate’s airports in order to create a competitive market for air transport between the Sultanate and those countries, which leads to the recovery of economic and tourist movement in the Sultanate and provides more travel options for travelers.

His Excellency also clarified that the ICAN conference provides a central gathering for conducting air transport discussions and is an opportunity to meet between the stakeholders in the authority and their counterparts in other countries to discuss various developments and developments in the field of air transport and negotiate operational matters with several countries at the same time instead of meeting the delegations of both countries at a specific time, which saves time and efforts.