Katie Murar – July 11, 2017
As the first U.S. Open Skies agreement turns 25, the U.S. Airlines For Open Skies Coalition – comprised of four U.S. airlines including Hawaiian – is launching advertisements this week that urge President Donald Trump to uphold the U.S. Open Skies agreement and reject the demands of three U.S. legacy carriers.
This is an ongoing response to the group formed by United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, called Partnership for Fair and Open Skies, which claims that three Middle East airlines – Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways – are violating their Open Skies agreement with the United States.
The USAOS, which also includes FedEx Corp., delivery unit subsidiary FedEx Express, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp., has said the agreement supports American jobs, enables small business exports and saves U.S. travelers $4 billion in annual savings on international flights.
The advertisements, slated to air on Fox and MSNBC this week, says, “American Airlines, United and Delta want President Trump to limit competition, jeopardizing open skies agreements and millions of American jobs they help support.”