A brief statement was released by Bill Shuster, US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman, regarding the allegations that the Middle East airlines receive illegal subsidies in violation of Open Skies:
“They’re state-owned companies, and they’re getting what we believe are infusions of cash, which is not fair. The committee has spoken with the USDOT and asked them to investigate further.”
In related news, Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan had this to say in defense of his airline according to The Dallas Morning News:
“Etihad is a David, a David that has been facing Goliaths since we started,” Hogan said. Hogan noted that Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, transports less than 15 million passengers a year, while American Airlines carries over 500 million. (American’s traffic figures are that American and US Airways carried 91.5 million passengers and regional partners carried 46.6 million, or about 138 million under the American Airlines Group banner.) “We shouldn’t attack what we don’t understand,” Hogan said. “We should work though the appropriate channels to resolve our issues and our differences.” Hogan defended the UAE supporting its airline through “startup loans and equity,” shrugging of rumors that such assistance meant “free fuel and … free landing spots.”
Related – Is the Emirates DXB-MXP-JFK Flight Illegal? US carriers think so…
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2 comments
Did the CEO perhaps mean “American airlines carry?” That number would be around 767 million revenue passenger emplanements. Neither number is close to the 500 million figure, but it would make some sense that he was referring to US airlines and a Dallas reporter focused on “American.”
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