The Agreement between the Republic of Korea and the European Union on Certain Aspects of Air Services (“the Horizontal Aviation Agreement”), which was signed on June 25, 2020, in Brussels, will enter into force on November 1, 2021.
After signing the Horizontal Aviation Agreement, the Korean and EU sides notified each other of their completion of internal procedure for the entry into force of the Agreement in July 2020 and October 2021, respectively. Accordingly, the Agreement will enter into force on November 1, 2021.
The Horizontal Aviation Agreement is a comprehensive aviation cooperation agreement that uniformly applies the designation requirements and competition rules clauses in the air services agreements concluded between the ROK and the EU member states. The ROK has concluded air services agreements with a total of 92 countries including the EU, and 86 of them are in force as of November 1, 2021.
The Horizontal Aviation Agreement will allow more airlines to operate flights between the ROK and the EU member states. It is expected to give people of both sides more airline options.
In principle, only national carriers are entitled to operate between the two countries according to bilateral air services agreement. By easing nationality requirements for airlines, however, airlines of any EU member state can operate on the routes between the ROK and another EU member state that has concluded an air services agreement with the ROK. (For example, LOT Polish Airlines can operate on the route between the ROK and Hungary.) In addition, this Horizontal Aviation Agreement will reinforce cooperation in aviation between the two sides. It is also expected to contribute to expanding the exchange of goods and people between the two sides.
Please refer to the attached PDF.