The Cabinet approved regulations that ease access to ground handling services at Moldovan airports in a move to reduce exploitation costs and to improve the quality of services provided to air services users, IPN reports.

To be able to work at the airports in Moldova, the service providers should be residents of the country and should possess a ground handling company certificate. Airlines will be able to sign ground handling services contracts by themselves.

The new regulations apply to airports where annual traffic totals at least 2 million passengers or 50,000 tonnes of goods.

Ground handling services include ground administration and surveillance, passenger assistance, luggage and correspondence handling, preparing of aircraft for takeoff and landing and others.

The approval of the regulations is specified in the national plan for harmonizing the legislation that was undertaken by signing the Common Aviation Area Agreement between Moldova and the EU member states.