This week, the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies launched an industry-funded advertising campaign urging the Obama administration to enforce Open Skies agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. These full page ads, running in The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, call on the President and administration officials to ensure that these countries abide by the terms listed in our bilateral air service agreements.
The Open Skies system can only work if all sides abide by the agreements they sign. Unfortunately, Qatar and the UAE are violating our Open Skies agreements by pumping billions of dollars in government subsidies and unfair benefits into their state-owned carriers in an effort to dominate the global airline industry. These direct violations harm the U.S. economy and threaten tens of thousands American jobs.
In addition to our collaborative efforts through the Partnership, ALPA pilots continue to push for the Obama administration to address the massive, market-distorting subsidies from the governments of the UAE and Qatar. This week alone, more than 5,000 ALPA members reached out to the White House to ask for enforcement of these agreements. It is crucial that we put an end to these illegal subsidies that place U.S. airline workers’ jobs at risk.