Norwegian under ild i USA - Curt Lewis

United Airlines pilots (and many others) bemoan Trump's Norwegian Air decision


United Airlines pilots and tens of thousands of pilots working for other carriers who are members of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) didn't get what they were looking for from President Donald Trump and his administration late last week.

That's when the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) formally approved upstart low-fare carrier Norwegian Air United Kingdom's request for a foreign air carrier permit that would allow the airline to operate flights to and from the United States.

As recently as July, United pilots called DOT's expected move to approve the Norwegian flights "unfathomable" because it would allow a "Norway-based company to tilt the playing field in their favor by operating out of Ireland and the United Kingdom with pilots hired in Asia expressly to avoid Norwegian labor protections."

But DOT didn't buy the argument laid out by United Airlines (NYSE: UAL) pilots and other dissenting parties.

In the department's ruling served late last week, the DOT said parties objecting to Norwegian Air service had "offered no arguments not already considered and rejected by the Department."

Still, the ALPA couldn't resist another expression of disappointment after the ruling was served.

Noted ALPA president and Delta Air Lines captain Tim Canoll: "The Trump Administration's decision to approve Norwegian Air UK's application to serve the United States is another blow to U.S. workers and does not deliver on all the talk about defending U.S. jobs against unfair foreign competition."

ALPA did concede, however, that Norwegian Air UK's employment model is not clear. But the pilots union maintains that other Norwegian Air companies are using pilots and flight attendants who work under Asian employment contracts to lower labor standards.

A Norwegian Air spokesman could not be immediately reached for a response, though the carrier has repeatedly insisted it is hiring a number of U.S.-based crew members to operate flights.

ALPA's Canoll added: "The fact that the Trump administration is saying one thing but doing another when it comes to defending fair competition drives home the urgent need for Congress to act to defend U.S. trade agreements and airline workers against foreign companies with anti-competitive business models in the future."

So far United pilots have not directly responded to the latest turn of events from the DOT in the Norwegian Air saga.

Norwegian Air is scheduled to start nonstop service between Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and London in March of 2018.

ALPA is the world's largest pilot union, representing more than 57,000 pilots at 33 airlines, including United Airlines and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL).