Delta Air Lines is ditching its Atlanta-Dubai route, laying the blame at the ‘heavily-subsidised’ Gulf carriers.
Delta will end service on February 11 next year to redeploy aircraft to ‘transatlantic markets where it can compete on a level playing field that’s not distorted by subsidised state-owned airlines,’ it said.
Delta launched the Atlanta-Dubai route in 2007 and increased to a daily service a year later, however recently announced it was scaling back flight frequencies despite having no direct competition on the route.
Delta claims 11,000 seats have been added since 2008 from the U.S. to the Gulf’s three big hubs – Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, with 95% of capacity operated by Emirates, Qatar Air and Etihad Airways.
In a joint effort with American and United Airlines, Delta is pushing the US government to intervene over allegations of ‘unfair’ state subsidies provided to the Gulf carriers.
