Cincinnati – Northern Kentucky and Ohio leaders are pushing back against unfair subsidies provided by the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to their state-owned carriers, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, and Emirates Airline.
This initiative, which includes elected officials, chambers of commerce, community groups and labor organizations from both states as well as the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Board, is urging Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to examine the subsidies that these airlines receive and initiate conversations with the governments of Qatar and the UAE to resolve these violations of Open Skies policy.
The Open Skies agreements are designed to encourage free and fair open-market competition in the aviation industry and have been signed by the United States and over 100 partner countries.
According to a document outlining unfair benefits Gulf carriers receive, “every round trip route lost or forgone by a U.S. carrier because of subsidized Gulf carrier competition results in a net loss of over 800 U.S. jobs.”
Add Comment