U.S., Albania sign open-skies agreement

U.S., Albania sign open-skies agreement

   U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Albanian Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Luan Hajdaraga Wednesday signed an open-skies aviation agreement in Washington.

   The pact is the first air transport agreement between the two nations. The United States now has 60 bilateral open-skies agreements worldwide.

   The agreement, which applies to both passenger and cargo services, and to scheduled and charter operations, establishes a market-based aviation regime allowing airlines of each country to operate to, from and beyond the other's territory.