Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK) have concluded a landmark Open Skies Agreement, removing all restrictions on air services operated by carriers of both countries, announced the Ministry of Transport on Oct. 3.

With this agreement, Singapore Airlines (SIA) will now be able to operate as many services as the Singapore-UK market could support, said the ministry.

The SIA's aircraft can also pick up passengers from London's Heathrow Airport and fly them onwards to other cities, including those in the United States.

Similarly, UK carriers will be able to operate any number of services beyond Singapore to any other city in the world.

These rights, which will be effective from end-March 2008, come nearly two decades after Singapore first made its request to the UK, said the statement.

Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport said in the statement that "This is indeed a trail-blazing agreement concluded between two forward-looking countries that share a common objective of promoting free competition in the aviation sector."

The ministry describe it as ground-breaking agreement, saying it has more liberal than conventional open skies agreements, as it provides for unlimited "hubbing" and "cabotage" rights for carriers of both countries.

With the agreement, Singapore carriers will be allowed to base their aircraft in UK and use UK as a hub to operate to any other country without any restriction on destination, frequency of service or capacity. The same privilege applies to UK carriers.

The cabotage rights allow Singapore carriers to operate like a domestic carrier in the UK and to mount any number of services between UK cities.

The landmark agreement is the first of its kind for the UK, and only the second for Singapore, which already has a similar unrestricted agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

With this, Singapore will have open skies agreements with more than 20 countries, including 10 in the European Union.