Comments Made At An Event In Dublin, Ireland

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker has sparked a firestorm of negative reaction to comments he made at an event in Dublin, Ireland regarding the age of U.S. Flight Attendants.

Comparing his airline to U.S carriers, Al Baker (pictured) said that the average age of the cabin crew at Qatar Airways is 26, and "you are always being served by grandmothers."

ALPA reacted to the comments with a statement from union president Capt. Tim Canoll (pictured, below), who called for the Trump Administration to take a tough stance while negotiating the Open Skies agreement. "The head of Qatar Airways sunk to a new low recently when he disparaged hard-working U.S. crewmembers and airlines that represent $1.5 trillion in economic activity. Akbar Al Baker’s sexist and degrading remarks are an affront to our core values as a country, and he owes U.S. airline workers an apology," he said.
 
“If Mr. Al Baker’s airline actually competed in the open market, his customers would express their outrage over these comments by refusing to purchase tickets on his airline. However, since the company is wholly subsidized by the government of Qatar, there will likely be no economic ramifications for his insults. The fact is that the only reason he even has an airline to operate is because his government props it up.

“It is time for the Trump administration to enforce our free trade ‘Open Skies’ agreements and ensure that American workers—10 million whose jobs are at risk—have a level playing field. ALPA calls on U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to raise these issues today in his meetings with the Qatar government, which owns and operates Qatar Airways.”

SWAPA said the comments were indicative of a culture of discrimination at the airline, and also urged government action. "Just a few short years ago, Qatar prohibited female cabin crewmembers from marrying, being pregnant, or from even being dropped off for work by a male who wasn't a relative. Only after intense pressure from the International Labor Organization did Al Baker remove these discriminatory prohibitions on female cabin crew. Despite these blatant discriminatory policies, the U.S. government has given Qatar nearly unfettered access to our markets," the union said in a statement.

"The only thing more flagrant than Al Baker's regard for workers' rights is his blatant disregard for the very trade agreement that enables his airline to fly to the U.S. As a heavily subsidized, state-owned carrier, Qatar violates the terms of our Open Skies Agreements, dumping thousands of excess seats into the U.S. market. Market-driven, for-profit U.S. airlines are forced to abandon markets where wholly-owned subsidiaries of foreign governments masking themselves as legitimate air carriers dump excess capacity.

"President Trump must do what his predecessor was unwilling to: enforce the terms of our Open Skies Agreements. The American worker stood behind the President and his promise to put the American worker first, put an end to bad trade deals, and put violators in their place. Now is the time for the President to stand behind the American worker. Mr. President, tell Al Baker, we don't discriminate and that trade agreements matter!"   

(Source: News releases. Images from file)

FMI: www.alpa.org, www.swapa.org