The US Travel Association has urged the Trump Administration to support the Open Skies air treaty for the sake of American jobs.
"By reducing government interference in air travel, the agreements have led to hundreds of thousands of new American travel and manufacturing jobs, billions in US economic growth, lower airfares for travelers, more flights to airports to and beyond major gateways, and new opportunities for US airlines," US Travel president and CEO Roger Dow said in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Dow’s letter was penned as US airline executives met with the President with an agenda to curb the competition of gulf carriers Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways.
American, Delta, and United have always maintained Gulf carriers receive ‘unfair’ state subsidies.
They ‘operate without concern for turning a profit, unlike US airlines, and therefore focus entirely on stripping market share and driving out competition,’ the big three said in their own letter to Tillerson last week.
Dow says US airlines’ insistence that they want to project American jobs is a smokescreen.
"While their arguments are couched in compelling terms, the big three airlines are not seeking a level playing field to compete. Instead, they are lobbying for government intrusion that would benefit themselves, but hurt American manufacturing jobs, threaten US economic growth and undermine US national security interests.
Other airlines like JetBlue are firmly in favor of Open Skies agreements as it will greatly benefit the airline should it decide to one day launch transatlantic flights.
