In a move that is likely to benefit flyers from Chennai and Kolkata, India and Britain have eased the restrictions on the number of scheduled flights between the two countries.

In a statement the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that a memorandum of understanding was signed by the Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and the British Civil Aviation Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon.

The statement added that the limits on flights from key Indian cities, including Chennai and Kolkata, have been scrapped, allowing for a greater range of flights for passengers while providing a boost to trade and tourism for the UK and India.

The final decision on additional flights between the UK and India is a commercial one for airlines to decide on, the statement said. The agreement also opens all destinations in the UK for Indian carriers for code share flights, and reciprocally the UK carriers can also operate code share flights to any international airport in India, through domestic code share arrangements.

An earlier MoU was inked between the two countries in April 2005.