Trade group supports 'open skies' agreements with Persian Gulf countries

The U.S. Travel Association butted heads with some longtime allies in the airline industry Thursday when it spoke out in favor of a push to open international travel to more competition from Persian Gulf nations.

Three major airlines and several unions are currently fighting attempts to get the federal government to adopt "open skies" policies that would make the U.S. commercial airline market accessible to competition based in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The companies and unions contend both countries heavily subsidize their airlines, which would lead to unfair competition and threaten U.S. jobs.

However, in a statement, U.S. Travel CEO Roger Dow said his association looked at the facts and came to the opposite conclusion: "contravening these open and transparent agreements that were negotiated in good faith holds dire consequences for sustaining the U.S. economic recovery and recent encouraging job growth."

"We wish we did not have to stand apart from our friends in the airline industry on this or any other issue," he said. "But with their efforts to reduce competition in the aviation marketplace having become so aggressive—and the negative impact of these policies upon consumers so abundantly clear—we simply cannot sit idly by." http://bit.ly/1MUk7W2

Six unions representing airline workers quickly pounced on Dow's comments in a joint statement, reiterating their concerns about allowing such heavily subsidized airlines into the marketplace.

"Open Skies agreements only work if the parties play by the rules," the unions stated. "Two of the more than one hundred countries that have signed Open Skies agreements, however, are not playing by the rules. That is why we are asking the U.S. government to open consultations with Qatar and UAE and to seek a freeze on new Gulf carrier capacity while those talks take place."http://bit.ly/1Fdzqdi