BANGALORE, India (AP) -- India has delayed signing an aviation technology agreement with the U.S. that was meant to be concluded along with a commercial airline pact the two countries signed this week, the U.S. transportation secretary said Friday.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said Indian aviation authorities had failed to get all necessary government approvals to wrap up the agreement on technology transfers and training programs that was meant to coincide with the open skies deal signed Thursday.
''Frankly, I am disappointed that we were not able to get it signed this week,'' Mineta told reporters in the southern city of Bangalore.
''Whenever the internal problems here in India get resolved, we will go ahead and sign it,'' he said.
The technology agreement would allow transfer of U.S. aircraft technology to Indian manufacturers, training of Indians by U.S. aviation experts and personnel exchanges between the two countries, he said.
It would also enable Indian-made aircraft - such as an advanced light helicopter made by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. - to receive U.S. Federal Aviation Administration certification so that they can be sold to U.S. buyers.
The open skies pact, which removes restrictions on the number and destinations of flights between the two countries, is expected to boost air travel between the two countries and lower fares.
For five decades, U.S. airline flights to India have been limited. Currently, American airlines operate only 14 flights a week to India, compared with 28 flights by Indian carriers to the U.S.
Washington had called the restrictions ''commercially restrictive and outmoded.''
