India and New Zealand have signed an air services agreement in a bid to boost connectivity, tourism and trade between both countries. The agreement was signed by India’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan and Simon Bridges, Minister of Transport and Minister of Energy and Resources of New Zealand in Auckland. The ceremony took place in Auckland’s Langham Hotel.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key witnessed the exchange of agreement on air services. The agreement is set to improve better connectivity between the two countries especially for about 23, 000 Indian students studying in New Zealand.  Air New Zealand, Air India and Singapore Airlines are among the operators which have the potential to run such a direct service. For code-sharing operations, India will have any point in New Zealand. As intermediate points, India can have Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok and any two points in Australia.

Since the Government’s Air Transport policy was introduced in 2012, Bridges said 50 new or amended air agreements had been negotiated, bringing the total to 78. Most of the major airlines in the world are now able to operate services to New Zealand without restriction, with 18 new air routes announced in the past year alone.