[Thomas Feldhaus]

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Australia and China are committed to starting negotiations on an “open skies” accord, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government said as it announced an increase in flights allowed between the two countries.

Under the new air services agreement, the national airlines of both nations can immediately offer as many as 10,500 seats a week between Australia’s major airports and China and a further 4,000 seats beginning in November, Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said in an e-mailed statement. Seat allocations were previously capped at 8,500, according to the statement.

The accord contains a “shared commitment to commencing negotiations aimed at concluding an ‘open skies’ agreement” and reinforces the “importance of our economic relationship with China,” Albanese said.

China is Australia’s largest trading partner. The Asia- Pacific is the world’s biggest aviation market and last year almost 1.4 million people traveled between Australia and China, according to the statement. Passenger growth on routes between the two nations has averaged 16.9 percent over the past five years, Albanese said.

Source: bloomberg