“There has been a lot of attention recently around the government subsidies Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been funneling to their airlines, which are distorting the international aviation marketplace and violating the aviation trade agreements they hold with the United States, known as Open Skies Agreements. Over $42 billion in government subsidies from foreign competition is devastating for an industry that represents 5% of U.S. GDP and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it directly supports. While this risk to American jobs, and the fact that the subsidies run directly counter to U.S. trade policy, is more than enough reason to expect the U.S. government to call for trade consultations with these two countries to resolve the subsidy violations, it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the reason these subsidies have the potential to devastate not only the U.S. economy, but to jeopardize U.S. national security as well.

I spent more than twenty years flying for the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy as a fighter pilot, where my job was working to protect this country and its citizens. As a commercial airline pilot for a U.S. airline, my contribution to this country’s national security did not end. Serving as a CRAF (Civil Reserve Air Fleet) pilot, I was called on to fly activated commercial airline support and defend our country at a time of national emergency, including missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

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