Says State-Run Gulf Airlines Will Be Able To Unfairly Compete With U.S. Carriers

Not everybody is thrilled with Boeing's massive orders for the newly-announced 777X, which was unveiled at the Dubai Air Show Sunday, and additional major orders for Airbus.

Airline pilots' union ALPA issued a statement Sunday saying that the aircraft orders totaling $162.6 Billion by state-owned foreign airlines Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, and Flydubai, "illustrate the staggering scale of the economic threat to the U.S. airline industry and its employees if the U.S. government continues policies that hand foreign competitors an economic advantage over U.S. airlines in the global marketplace."

According to ALPA, the total order during the first day of the Dubai Airshow includes the purchase of 113 widebody aircraft from Airbus and 255 from Boeing. “The question of the day is: How many of these widebody aircraft orders will be financed by a U.S. or European taxpayer-backed export credit agency, subsidizing the aircraft orders at rates not available to U.S. airlines,” said Capt. Lee Moak, President of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) (pictured).

ALPA calls for the U.S. government to provide U.S. airlines and their workers with a fair opportunity to compete internationally by ending its policies that advantage state-owned foreign airlines while harming U.S. airlines. In Leveling the Playing Field for U.S. Airlines and Their Employees, ALPA lays out urgently needed U.S. government action, including measures to:

• Reform the high tax burden on U.S. airlines while their foreign competitors often operate in a tax-free business environment at home;
• Halt its plan to operate a U.S. Customs preclearance facilities in Abu Dhabi and possibly other airports where U.S. carriers do not fly that advantages state-owned foreign carriers at the expense of U.S. airlines.
• Ensure that U.S. Open Skies agreements acknowledge that high labor standards for U.S. airline employees are essential to the competitive landscape;
• Eliminate low-interest U.S. Export–Import Bank financing for widebody aircraft that isn’t available to U.S. airlines but subsidizes state-owned foreign airlines and saves them millions in financing costs.

“These state-owned foreign airlines are spending billions to purchase widebody aircraft so they can increase flights to and from the United States and unfairly compete against U.S. airlines in the global marketplace,” said Capt. Moak. “At the same time, the U.S. Export–Import Bank’s below-market financing allows U.S. airlines’ competitors to save millions when they purchase widebody aircraft like those announced this week.”

ALPA strongly maintains that growth in the global airline industry should be driven by fair competition. In providing low-cost financing to foreign airlines, for example, the U.S. Export–Import Bank not only saves the state-owned carriers millions on each aircraft, the financing also enables these airlines to purchase state-of-the-art aircraft that are more fuel efficient and attractive to passengers. As a result, U.S. airlines experience a competitive disadvantage for years if not decades, and the results affect U.S. airline workers throughout the industry.

“The secretary general of the Arab Air Carriers Organization had it half-right in an April 2011 speech to the International Aviation Club in which he compared the U.S. airline industry to dinosaurs that will soon die due to their inability to adapt to their environment,” continued Capt. Moak. “If U.S. airlines are to die, it will be due to U.S. government policy and vision that is stuck in a domestic competitive mindset while we do business in a global economic environment.”

“If U.S. airlines that fly internationally don’t grow because their state-owned foreign competitors benefit from unfair marketplace advantages provided by the U.S. government, the airlines that fly the domestic passengers who connect to the international flights won’t grow either,” said First Officer Marcin Kolodziejczyk, chairman of ALPA’s Mesa Air Group pilot group.

“Skewing global competition against U.S. airlines threatens an economic engine that powers the U.S. gross domestic product and creates good jobs,” concluded Capt. Moak. “U.S. government policies should not disadvantage U.S. airlines while helping our foreign competitors and it is past time for U.S. government leaders to take action to create a fair competitive marketplace for U.S. airlines and their employees.”

FMI: www.alpa.org