Print and Television Advertisements Show Threat of Trade Cheating and Unfair Competition

WASHINGTON, DC (March 16, 2017) – Today, the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies, a coalition of leading U.S. airlines and unions, sent an open letter to President Trump and his administration in the New York Times and the New York Post, urging the administration to address trade violations by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar that threaten 1.2 million American jobs. A separate advertisement began running on cable.

The advertisements come on the heels of Emirates’ new, year-round flight from Athens, Greece to Newark, New Jersey. U.S. aviation workers rallied at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday to protest the flight for violating an important international agreement with the United States.

The U.S. has 120 Open Skies agreements with countries around the world that, when enforced, promote economic growth and benefits for airlines, workers and passengers. The UAE and Qatar have instead violated their agreements with the U.S. by pumping over $50 billion in documented subsidies to their state-owned carriers – Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. These massive subsidies are more than twice that received by Airbus, which the U.S. successfully challenged in the largest WTO subsidy case to date, and undermine fair competition in the global aviation market.

“The billions of dollars in illegal Gulf carrier subsidies are brazen violations of our Open Skies agreements and a perfect example of the type of trade cheating that President Trump abhors,” said Jill Zuckman, chief spokesperson for the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies. “There are 1.2 million quality American jobs that are being threatened every day by Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airlines. We are respectfully looking to President Trump and his administration for help.”
The print ads, which can be seen below, will run in The New York Times and New York Post featuring a letter to President Trump signed by: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Allied Pilots Association, the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. The six-figure television ad buy, which can be seen online here, will run for the next three weeks.