Ukraine's envoy to EU predicts when Open Skies deal will be unlocked

"As you know, prospects for signing the deal on the Common Aviation Area are affected by a territorial dispute between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar. But now there are some signs indicating the possibility of reaching a compromise," Tochytskyi said in an interview with UNIAN.

He also recalled that in early December last year, the Council of the European Union agreed on a renewed mandate of the European Aviation Safety Agency.

"This mandate was agreed both by Spain and Great Britain. We are keeping this issue under special control. After all, we are talking about the real benefits that our citizens will feel as airfares will be reduced, the air transportation network will be expanded, and I hope that the quality of air services will improve as well," the Ukrainian diplomat said.

Read alsoMykola Tochytskyi: "We need to shift from "Ukraine is a victim" stereotype Tochytskyi went on to say that Kyiv continues to work on this issue with the official Brussels, as well as with London and Madrid, and not only at the Foreign Ministry level.

"So I remain optimistic in this regard and I hope that in 2017, the EU will finally be able to unlock the signing of the Agreement," he said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine has been negotiating on common aviation area with the EU for several years, which would allow Ukrainian and European airlines to operate freely over the European Union and Ukraine. However, the signing of the agreement is impossible without solving the dispute between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar, which has become more salient after the referendum on the withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union.

Ukraine has no right to independently make any unilateral decisions in this regard. The EU and Ukraine have been discussing the Gibraltar issue since June 2014. Yet, the other provisions of the agreement were initialed back in 2013.