SINGAPORE, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Singapore and Australia have moved one step closer to an open skies agreement by agreeing to establish a plan by mid-year.
Singapore Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong called the agreement "significant," Channel NewsAsia reported.
A full open skies plan is something Singapore has seeking with Australia since they signed an expanded air services agreement in 2003.
Full open skies would allow Singapore Airlines access to the lucrative trans-Pacific route, picking up passengers from Australia and flying them to the United States.
Currently, Australian passengers to the United States fly on either United Airlines or Qantas, which, at 75 percent, has the lion's share of the market.
So lucrative is the route that 15 percent of Qantas' profits come from it.
