US DoT invites carriers to apply for Samoa operating approvals following its withdrawal from MALIAT

US Department of Transportation (DoT) issued (15-Mar-2019) a notice advising US carriers holding blanket open skies route authority that Samoa will be removed from the DoT's list of open skies agreements currently being applied, effective 09-Jul-2019. The notice invites carriers seeking to provide scheduled foreign air transportation to Samoa after that date to file applications for exemption authority. On 09-Mar-2019, Samoa withdrew as a party to the multilateral agreement on the liberalisation of international air transportation (MALIAT), ending its open skies relationship with the US as a multilateral partner. On 11-Mar-2019, the US DoT issued a notice stating it will remove Samoa from its list of open skies agreements currently being applied. [more - original PR]