US group applauds Dutch action to stop Gulf subsidy distortions

WASHINGTON, DC – Americans for Fair Skies, a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to restoring fairness to Open Skies Agreements, applauds the action taken by the Dutch government to stop the expansion of subsidized Gulf airlines into the Netherlands and thanks the Dutch government for their leadership, and calls on other governments, including the U.S., to take similar actions to ensure that foreign airline competition exists on a level playing field.

Since the revelation of the more than $42 billion in aviation subsidies coming out of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar a few months ago, three countries have taken action to stop these subsidies from further market distortion.

Germany and France have already frozen the allocation of new routes into their respective countries by the Gulf airlines and have called upon the European Union Commission to institute new EU-level transport agreements with these countries that include “fair competition” clauses. Recently, the Netherlands has joined them in imposing a freeze of new routes into their country until the subsidy distortions are addressed.

Says Americans for Fair Skies President, Captain Moak, “Like the French and the Germans, the Dutch have also seen the evidence that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have supplied their airlines with more than $42 billions in subsidies, and they are supporting Dutch companies and the future viability of the international aviation market by saying “no” to unfair competition. Americans for Fair Skies has asked the U.S. Government to open consultations with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as called for in our Open Skies Agreements with both nations, and to freeze new routes from their subsidized carriers into the U.S. until these trade violations have been sorted out.”