The U.S. Travel Association is urging the Trump administration to support Open Skies aviation agreements, pointing out that these agreements align with the president's stated priorities of supporting domestic jobs, correcting the U.S. trade imbalance, and reducing government regulatory interference.
"By reducing government interference in air travel, [Open Skies] agreements have led to hundreds of thousands of new American travel and manufacturing jobs, billions in U.S. economic growth, lower airfares for travelers, more flights to airports to and beyond major gateways, and new opportunities for U.S. airlines," U.S. Travel president and CEO Roger Dow wrote in a letter to new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday.
For decade, the U.S. has had more than 100 Open Skies agreements, negotiated with countries around the world in support of a free-market environment for the international airline industry.
Dow's letter was sent to Tillerson the same day executives from the "Big Three" U.S. airlines -- American, Delta, and United -- met with Trump. Since early 2015, the Big Three have petitioned to break Open Skies agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in order to curb competition from Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways. The airline executives claimed in a counter letter to Tillerson last week that Middle East subsides "allow [Persian] Gulf carriers to operate without concern for turning a profit, unlike U.S. airlines, and therefore focus entirely on stripping market share and driving out competition."
The state-owned Gulf carriers deny this, and some U.S. carriers -- including JetBlue and cargo airline FedEx Corp. -- also oppose breaking established agreements. In addition, several consumer groups support the preservation of these agreements, arguing that more competition leads to lower fares.
"While their arguments are couched in compelling terms, the Big Three airlines are not seeking a level playing field to compete," Dow wrote. "Instead, they are lobbying for government intrusion that would benefit themselves, but hurt American manufacturing jobs, threaten U.S. economic growth and undermine U.S. national security interests."
According to Dow, the addition of just one Emirates flight to Orlando in 2015 created 1,400 new jobs in the region. Employment in the U.S. airline industry, he added, rose 4.3 percent from September 2015 to September 2016.
Because of Open Skies, Dow continued, Gulf carriers have committed to purchasing American products. Of the 306 firm orders for the Boeing 777X, 235 are for the three Gulf carriers.
Undermining Open Skies would significantly reduce travel to the U.S., he added, and every dollar spent by an overseas visitor to the U.S. counts as an export that could help reduce the trade deficit.
Read Dow's full letter here.