NAI and the US - Curt Lewis

Airlines to Trump: Block rivals and privatize air traffic control

INTERNATIONAL RIVALS

The industry-including its labor unions-is seeking to curb further expansion in North America by a trio of Middle Eastern carriers, Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways Ltd. The U.S. industry has been pressing the current administration for two years to open talks with those airlines' governments over what they allege are tens of billions of dollars in unfair subsidies to the three airlines.

Trump, 70, has vehemently attacked U.S. trade deals he says disadvantage Americans, and airlines are saying the same regarding these competitors.

"We look forward to briefing President-elect Donald Trump and his new administration on the massive, unfair subsidies that the UAE and Qatar give to their state-owned Gulf carriers," said Jill Zuckman, chief spokesperson for the airline lobby group, Partnership for Open & Fair Skies, in a statement Wednesday. "Trump would be inclined to not allow subsidized state-owned foreign airlines to compete unfairly against market-driven public companies from the U.S.," Rivkin said. For now, the Obama administration has been at a "sort of impasse" over the Middle East controversy, said Brian Havel, director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul University in Chicago.

The same coalition of airlines and unions is also battling efforts by Norwegian Air Shuttle AS to expand internationally with more U.S. service. The airline has been seeking a permit for its Irish subsidiary to serve U.S. destinations. Norwegian's request to the Department of Transportation has been pending for almost three years.