U.S. Reaches Open Skies Accord with Croatia

The United States and Croatia have reached agreement on a comprehensive Open Skies framework expanding and liberalizing their bilateral civil aviation relations. The agreement was initialed on March 13, after two days of talks in Zagreb between a Croatian delegation, led by the Croatian Ministry of Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure that included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a U.S. delegation led by the State Department’s Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs that included an official from the U.S. Department of Transportation. An initial round of negotiations was held in Washington on September 27-28, 2007.

The U.S.-Croatia Open Skies agreement represents a market-oriented approach to aviation relations: airlines, not governments, will decide which cities to serve, the frequency of flights, the equipment used, and the prices charged. The agreement will strengthen and expand our already strong trade and tourism links with Croatia, and provide multi-million dollar benefits to American and Croatian carriers and the traveling public, while preserving our commitments to aviation safety and security.