Albania?

[CarbonMan]

I guess they ran out of things to agree on. Glad the negotiators managed to squeeze out a no-limits agreement; foresee massive traffic between these two countries.

SINGAPORE - Singapore has signed a new open skies agreement with Albania. The agreement allows designated airlines to fly between both countries, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Monday.

Under the agreement, there will not be any restrictions in capacity, frequency or aircraft type.

Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam signed the agreement on Monday in Singapore with his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati.

The agreement was signed after the two ministers met to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

[SQ22]

[SQGamespeed]

So Singapore makes open skies agreements with countries unlikely to have nonstop flights to, such as Albania and, IIRC Tonga and Rwanda, but bilaterals with countries such as South Korea has a cap on the number of weekly flights, preventing a nonstop flight to Busan.

[Airbus SAS A340-500]

So Singapore makes open skies agreements with countries unlikely to have nonstop flights to, such as Albania and, IIRC Tonga and Rwanda, but bilaterals with countries such as South Korea has a cap on the number of weekly flights, preventing a nonstop flight to Busan.

For the case of South Korea, it is more likely the Korean side refusing to re-negotiate on the air services agreement / bilateral. While Singaporean carriers have maxed out the allotted capacity on their end, Korean carriers are quite far from hitting their quota. This prevents any incentive to the Koreans from re-negotiating the bilateral as any increased allocated capacity would be seen as benefitting the Singaporean side only. That argument is not unjustified if you see in that (Korean) context.

But then again, not only is the bilateral highly restricted by capping the number of weekly flights, it also (unduly) caps the type of aircraft that can fly the route. In the latest amendment (I think it was in 2013, correct me if I'm wrong please), provisions were amended to allow the A350 and B787 to fly between Singapore and Korea. Even if capacity is justified, we won't see the A380 on that route until the provision is amended to allow for it.