International Airlines

International carriers such as Qatar, Emirates and Etihad Airlines are dominating the international market. U.S airlines are claiming that they have an unfair advantage by receiving government subsidies. According to Delta Airlines Etihad, and Qatar Airways have received "42 billion dollars in subsidies from their home governments" (Weisman 2015). They also claim that they are using the subsidies to eliminate competition by lowering prices, and offering services such as showers, beds and full service bars at the company's expense. That's the reason why the CEO’s of the American carriers are pushing for American action against the Gulf carriers because they believe that they are receiving illegal subsidies from their respective governments, and violates the open sky agreement which promotes trade jobs and economic growth (Oatis 2015). 

According to Etihad Airways, American, United and Delta Airlines have "received a combined total of 71.48 billion in government benefits over the last 15 years" (Fricke 2015). It's kind of hard to call for government action when you are doing the same thing that you are complaining about. While American carriers are complaining about 42 billion dollars in government subsidies given to Emirates and Qatar they have forgotten about the american aviation industry receiving "155 billion in direct spending from 1918 to 1998" (Shaal 2015). That is not including any government subsidies given in the last 17 years, or bailouts and bankruptcy proceedings. As you see there are always two sides to a story, I personally think that both American and Middle Eastern Airlines are guilty in receiving government subsidies.

U.S Airlines such as Delta and United are complaining about foreign airlines such as Emirates benefiting from below market interest rates that are unavailable to them from the governments export credit agency. Even though it may sound unfair to american airlines, you  must keep in mind that international airlines are using that money to buy Boeing aircraft instead of Airbus.  Boeing officials believe that the Export-Import bank allows them to sell hundreds of airplanes and compete with the European market, and with out it they will lose billions of dollars in revenue. Boeing also believes without the low interest rates airlines such as Emirates would deal with European credit agencies to purchase jets from Airbus ( Weisman 2015).

No i don't believe that the global playing field of long haul careers is fair. Thats because airlines don't play fair, and that applies to all airlines not just the gulf carriers. Writing this blog I discovered that American Airlines have been receiving subsidies since 1918, and once they started feeling the heat they wanted to call foul. I think its a joke that people mention the open sky agreement when we all know that airlines don't play by the rules, they never did and never will, it's just the nature of the business.  

Oatis, J. (Ed.). (2015, September 17). U.S. airline CEOs to meet with Kerry on Gulf carriers. Retrieved September 27, 2015. from http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-airline-ceos-to-meet-with-kerry-on-gulf-carriers-2015-9

Fricke, P. (2015, May 15). Gulf Airline Blasts US For Aviation Subsidies. Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/15/gulf-airline-blasts-us-for-aviation-subsidies/

Schaal, D. "WikiLeaks Disclosure Shows U.S. Airlines Received Billions in Subsidies." Skift. 9 Apr. 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2015, http://skift.com/2015/04/09/wikileaks-disclosure-shows-u-s-airlines-received-billions-in-subsidies/

 Weisman, J. "Boeing and Delta Spend Millions in Fight Over Export-Import Bank’s Existence." The New York Times. The New York Times, 6 Apr. 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2015,  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/07/business/boeing-delta-air-lines-export-import-bank.html?_r=0