The Florida Times-Union: Georgia airports may lose flights as subsidized Persian Gulf carriers eat into business, airlines officials say
“The coalition, which includes the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Delta Air Lines and others, held a press conference Thursday in Atlanta to call on the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to stop pumping money into the state-owned airlines Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. They say the practice violates the international Open Skies agreements.
The coalition, which includes the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Delta Air Lines and others, held a press conference Thursday in Atlanta to call on the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to stop pumping money into the state-owned airlines Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. They say the practice violates the international Open Skies agreements.“If unfair competition is permitted in contradiction to the current Open Skies policy, service to all U.S. communities will suffer as our domestic airlines are forced to reduce flights,” said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
None of the Gulf airlines fly into Georgia, but Qatar Airways recently announced direct flights between Atlanta and Doha beginning next July as part of a 25 percent increase in U.S. capacity it and other Gulf carriers have slated.”