Malaysia is a Member State of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
On 7 June 2016 the Council authorised the Commission to open comprehensive air transport negotiations with ASEAN. The future EU-ASEAN comprehensive air transport agreement (CATA) will be the first block-to-block air transport agreement and will cover market access as well as a wide range of areas (safety, security, air traffic management, social, consumer and environmental protection, fair competition etc.) where regulatory convergence should gradually be established. The negotiations are currently ongoing.
On 22 March 2007 the EU signed a horizontal aviation agreement with Malaysia. This agreement allows any EU airline to operate flights between Malaysia and any EU Member State where it is established and where a bilateral agreement with Malaysia exists and traffic rights are available. It does not replace the bilateral agreements but adapts them to bring them into line with EU law. This is a major step change from the traditional set-up of aviation based on nationality restrictions and complements the EU's internal aviation market on the external side.
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European Union signs aviation agreement with Malaysia
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22 March 2007: European Union signs aviation agreement with Malaysia