The State Department has decided how it will handle the open-skies
dispute between the legacy U.S. airlines and the Gulf carriers Emirates, Etihad
and Qatar, according to a source close to the considerations.
The Obama administration won’t put a freeze on new flights to the
U.S. by the Gulf carriers, as American, Delta and United have requested.
Instead, the U.S. will undertake informal discussions this summer with the
governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) about the alleged
subsidies they are providing to the Gulf Carriers, according to the source.
The story was first reported by Politico on Friday.
In a statement Monday, the Partnership for Fair and Open Skies,
which is comprised of the U.S. Big 3 legacy carriers as well as several large
airline industry unions, commended the State Department for the path it is
choosing to take.
“We appreciate how seriously the United States government has
taken the issue of massive subsidization of the Gulf carriers. Discussions
between our governments are an important step forward,” the organization said.
The Air Line Pilots Association said it is “encouraged that the
U.S. government is taking this issue seriously.”
“ALPA remains committed to stemming
the tide of subsidized airline seats coming from Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar
airlines and putting an end to unfair competition. Diplomacy takes time, and ALPA
strongly supports all engagement that addresses the subsidies and transparency
issues that leads towards a resolution,” ALPA said in a statement.
U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow was pleased that the
U.S. government has “rejected calls from the Big 3 domestic airlines and their
union allies to tamper with open skies aviation agreements.”
“I am grateful to the Obama administration for not buying
into a highly questionable suite of arguments against Open Skies that from the
beginning smacked of protectionism, cronyism and an unfortunate allergy to
healthy competition,” Dow said.
The U.S. Big 3 has been in rhetorical war with the Gulf carriers
since March 2015 over their allegation that Emirates, Etihad and Qatar have
taken $42 billion in subsidies from their governments since 2004, giving them
an unfair advantage in the international aviation market.
But the Big 3’s entreaties for action from the Obama
administration have been opposed by smaller U.S. carriers, which say that the
legacy carriers have themselves been beneficiaries of government largesse and
argue that measures against the Gulf carriers would reduce competition and
thereby harm consumers.
The Gulf carriers say they aren’t taking subsidies.
The State Department on Monday didn’t respond directly to a Travel
Weekly inquiry about whether is had settled on a course of action regarding the
Gulf carriers.
But the source involved in the considerations said that state
department officials will meet with UAE counterparts on July 18 and July 19 and
with Qatar counterparts the following week.