JERUSALEM, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel and Chile have signed an aviation agreement that will allow airlines from both countries to operate regular flights between them, the Israeli Ministry of Transport announced Thursday.
The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Jerusalem in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who is currently on an official visit to Israel.
Israel's Minister of Transport Bezalel Smotrich said that the agreement will help strengthen economic ties between the two countries.
The agreement will allow flights between the two countries via Brazil.
In addition, it will allow El Al, Israel's leading airline, to implement code sharing arrangements on non-direct flights between Israel and Chile.
Thus, passengers will be able to fly with El Al from Tel Aviv to Madrid and continue with the Spanish airline Iberia to Chile's capital Santiago.
The new agreement is a part of Israel's "open skies" reform, which aims at increasing the number of flights on active routes and launching direct flights on new routes.
In the past decade, since the reform was launched, Israel's international passenger traffic has increased by tens of percent, and the price of flights to many destinations worldwide has been reduced significantly.
