November 28, 2017
For Immediate Release
Contact: Andrea Christianson; achristianson@hamiltonps.com(202) 617-3888

Statement on Section 14505 of Senate Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Airlines for Open Skies (USAOS) released the following statement on Section 14505 of the Senate Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:

“This is another poorly veiled attempt by Delta to shield itself from competition and circumvent the established Department of Transportation process to review legitimate subsidy claims. This special interest ploy was designed to hurt the Gulf carriers but would actually impact airlines from as many as 14 countries and territories, such as Jordan, Ethiopia, and Malaysia. In addition, the provision opens the door to retaliatory taxes that would harm U.S. airlines, particularly U.S. cargo carriers. Delta appears unconcerned about the collateral damage of its multi-million dollar lobbying campaign, but Congress should be. We encourage Congress to reject this harmful provision.”

The full text of Section 14505 can be found beginning on page 503 of the Senate Tax Cuts and Job Act here.

U.S. Airlines for Open Skies (USAOS) is a coalition of four U.S. passenger and cargo carriers – Atlas Air Worldwide, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, and JetBlue Airways – that collectively transports approximately 42 million passengers annually, ships nearly 8 million tons of cargo, and employs nearly 430,000 people.