Rapporti problematici tra compagnie USA e Air Italy

[milmxp]

[...]
Ma festeggiare le nuove rotte IG come una solenne inculata ad AA, secondo me è alquanto prematuro.

Concordo.

Sì, ma lo è semplicemente per il fatto che nessuno vieta ad AA di prendere un 767 scassato e aprire un giornaliero ORD-MXP per schiacciare IG. O forse non lo fa perché sarebbero tempo e risorse sprecati; di conseguenza fa la cosa più facile ed economica da fare: abbaiare.

[Mauz]

Secondo me Trump non si pronuncia perché non è una questione mediatica quanto crediamo.

Sai quanto gliene frega ai cittadini americani di una compagnia italo-qatariota che apre qualche rotta in concorrenza con il mare di rotte servite dalle US3.

Dai su, è il Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America. Non un funzionario locale!

Inviato dal mio ALE-L21 utilizzando Tapatalk

[molival]

http://www.malpensa-info.it/reporter/20 ... n-capital/

da un giornale chicaghense

[clabre]

http://www.malpensa-info.it/reporter/20 ... n-capital/
da un giornale chicaghense

Voci provenienti dal Massachusetts danno in apertura la BOS 3xw da Giugno… se così fosse, l’annuncio non dovrebbe tardare molto… il che vorrebbe dire un’ulteriore macchina e un’ulteriore destinazione (oltre a Boston) da far entrare nella rotazione… Cit.

[easyMXP]

Ma festeggiare le nuove rotte IG come una solenne inculata ad AA, secondo me è alquanto prematuro.

Non si capisce più se temi che IG venga frenata, o inconsciamente speri che lo sia. Ormai un post su due è per dire che le US3 ce l'hanno con IG.
Peraltro, a parte qualche tifoso della curva mi sembra che la maggioranza qui festeggi a prescindere da AA.

[Mattia]

Ma IG fa benissimo a aprire più rotte possibili che ritiene possano essere profittevoli nella sua strategia, a prescindere da AA e compagnia bella...hanno avuto anni per aprirle non lo hanno fatto, problemi loro. Intanto IG inizia ad aprire e poi (immagino) consoliderà le frequenze. Una volta aperte BOS il grosso è coperto e tanti saluti a tutti, con buona pace delle US3 che se ne faranno una ragione, volenti o nolenti.
Oltretutto non esiste alcun c/s con QR su nessuno dei voli da MP per gli USA/ Canada. Quindi, come già gli è stata risposto dalla IATA, non hanno alcun fondamento le loro polemiche.

[malpensante]

Non è detto che BOS venga aperta. Si dice che sia ritenuta troppo vicina a New York, naturalmente in relazione alle limitate dimensioni della Air Italy attuale.

[malpensante]

...

[belumosi]

Ma festeggiare le nuove rotte IG come una solenne inculata ad AA, secondo me è alquanto prematuro.

Non si capisce più se temi che IG venga frenata,

Ovvio.

o inconsciamente speri che lo sia.

E a che pro dovrei pensare una bastardata del genere?

Ormai un post su due è per dire che le US3 ce l'hanno con IG.

Probabilmente perchè dalle scelte politiche americane dipende la sopravvivenza stessa della compagnia. Se gli USA (politica e/o big3) riuscissero a imporre una situazione che anche a regime dovesse generare fior di perdite, dubito che i due soci troverebbero divertente giocare con IG ancora a lungo. Ribadisco che lo temo, di certo non lo spero. Ma avrebbe senso nascondere questo problema perchè incrina un po' la speranza di un roseo futuro per IG? Secondo me no, sia perchè è reale, sia per il peso rilevante che potrebbe avere.

Peraltro, a parte qualche tifoso della curva

...che è destinatario privilegiato di certe osservazioni

mi sembra che la maggioranza qui festeggi a prescindere da AA.

Infatti non avrai problemi a trovare il mio post tra quella maggioranza. :ciao:

[canadian#affairs]

Altro materiale sulla questione



Qatar Airlines runs into turbulence in the US House
Democrat says subsidy of Air Italy is part of move ‘to take over international aviation’

Demetri Sevastopulo, Kiran Stacey and Courtney Weaver in Washington and Rachel Sanderson in Milan

The Democrat who will head the House of Representatives committee that oversees aviation has lashed out at Qatar Airways for allegedly subsidising Air Italy and giving it an unfair advantage as the Italian carrier increases its routes to the US.

Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who will chair the transportation committee when Democrats take control of the House in January, said he was concerned that Qatar Airways, which has a 49 per cent stake in Air Italy, was engaging in anti-competitive practices to help the Italian airline fly to new destinations in the US.

“Their intention is to take over international aviation. They’re subsidising the heck out of it,” Mr DeFazio said in an interview with the Financial Times, in which he also raised concern about Emirates, a UAE airline that flies from the Gulf to the US via Europe.

Mr DeFazio said he was investigating “rumours” that Qatar Airways had “gifted” 50 planes to Air Italy to enable the carrier to expand US routes. But he said his broader concern was that Middle Eastern carriers were threatening the US industry because they received government subsidies.

Efforts to characterise Qatar Airways’ investment in Air Italy as being at odds with the US-Qatar understandings reached in January of this year are entirely off base

Air Italy denied the company had received aircraft for free, calling the allegations “absurd”. 

“I have all the documentation to prove our aircraft were leased and where they were leased from,” Rossen Dimitrov, chief operating officer, told the FT. “I am shocked and surprised that a congressman can make such baseless comments.”

Mr Dimitrov said Mr DeFazio and the US carriers needed to “look in their own backyard, at their own joint ventures and investments” in the US airline industry such as those between Delta, Virgin Atlantic and Chinese airlines.

Mr DeFazio’s comments come as the biggest US carriers — United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta — step up lobbying efforts to persuade the Trump administration to deal with the economic threat from the Gulf carriers.

In January, the US reached an “understanding” with Qatar over the implementation of an “open skies” agreement that was aimed at preventing abuses in the US market.

As part of the understanding, Qatar said its national airline had no plans to expand “fifth freedom” flights — routes from the Gulf to the US that pick up passengers in Europe. But US carriers have accused Qatar Airways of breaching the spirit of the deal with its investment in Air Italy.

Oscar Munoz, United chief executive, last week said he was “strongly opposed” to the “Italian version of Qatar”. He described the situation as an “in-your-face to our administration” with respect to the open skies deal, and said United, American and Delta were “very closely aligned on this issue”.

Akbar Al Baker, chief executive of Qatar Airways, rejected the US carriers’ claims. He told the FT that his carrier’s stake in Air Italy was the same size as the stakes Delta has in both Virgin Atlantic and Aeromexico.

The US carriers have argued that Qatar has subsidised its national airline with billions of dollars in cash infusions, loan guarantees and cheap fuel. They also contend that the Qatar government funded the airline’s sponsorship of Spanish football club Barcelona, worth $171m over five years.

They argue that Air Italy would not have been able to expand into the US without help from Qatar Airways — a situation that they claimed violated the understanding from January to adhere to “market consistent conditions as far as possible”.

Some people familiar with the lobbying efforts by the American carriers concede there is little the airlines can do from a legal standpoint, given the lack of enforceable clauses in the deal. The open skies deal also does not prohibit fifth freedom rights. One of the people said that any solution was “likely to be diplomatic”.

The US airlines have found a supportive ear in Peter Navarro, the White House trade hawk and proponent of Donald Trump’s “America First” philosophy. Mr DeFazio’s criticisms show one way in which some Democrats agree with the White House. 

“The other issue is losing yet another industry to overseas, losing all the jobs that go with it,” said Mr DeFazio. 

The US carriers have also enlisted the support of Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, and 11 other Republicans, who have urged the administration to review whether Qatar is complying with the US-Qatar open skies agreement and the January understanding.

Air Italy currently flies from Milan to Miami and New York. This week, the carrier said it would start flying to Chicago next year, in addition to routes to Los Angeles and San Francisco that were previously announced. 

“Qatar is using Air Italy as a Trojan horse built from subsidised cash to avoid its commitments to the Trump administration and launch new fifth freedom routes,” said Scott Reed of the Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, a group that represents the US airlines.

Mr Al Akbar said efforts to describe the Air Italy routes as fifth freedom flights were “false” because Qatar Airways did not have a code sharing agreement with the Italian carrier. He said the arrangement was consistent with an EU-US pact that governs the ability of US and European carriers to fly to destinations in each other’s markets.

US and Qatari officials are due to meet next month to discuss how the open skies deal is being implemented. Under the deal, Qatar agreed that Qatar Airways would disclose any new transactions, pay the full cost of operating out of its international airport and conduct any transactions with state-owned companies on commercial terms.

Trump administration officials who are receptive to the arguments of the US carriers contend that if any of those agreements have been breached, it would be an opportunity to challenge the Qataris over the Air Italy investment.

Follow Demetri Sevastopulo on Twitter: @dimi

https://www.ft.com/content/8e3d3d12-039 ... 83d3002ee1



Parliamentary questions
PDF 107k WORD 21k
11 December 2018
E-006218/2018
Question for written answer E-006218/2018
to the Commission
Rule 130
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE)


Subject: Air Italy, controlled by Qatar Airways, to start new direct routes from Milan to Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2019
[/size]
In its answer to written question E-002422/2018[1] with regard to observing the rule of ‘effective control’, the Commission stated: ‘the air carrier has to ensure at all moments the fulfilment of the requirements and the Commission might request the Italian authorities’ updated information when relevant’[2].

In 2019, Air Italy, controlled by Qatar Airways, will start new direct routes from Milan to Los Angeles and San Francisco[3]. This has raised concerns on fair competition in the USA[4],[5],[6].

The Commission has proposed a new regulation on safeguarding competition in air transport [COM(2017)0289]. The regulation thus proposed notably defines practices affecting competition as consisting either in discrimination or subsidies.

Moreover, the Commission has started negotiations with Qatar regarding future comprehensive aviation agreements.

1. Was the Commission informed in advance of these direct new routes to the US from Milan with Qatar Airways or Air Italy, and did it agree to them?

2. With regard to observing the rule of ‘effective control’, is the Commission still convinced that control is in Italian hands and not in those of Qatar Airways[7]?

3. Is this interpretation of ‘effective control’ consistent with the Commission’s objective of fair competition and its goal of levelling the playing field between EU and third country carriers?[8]

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc ... 18_EN.html


[..]

This is why the Trump administration must continue to develop a system that can enforce the trade agreements it makes with China – and every other country with which the U.S. does business.

For example, the Qatari government had provided an estimated $25 billion in illegal subsidies to its state-owned carrier, Qatar Airways, in violation of its years-long Open Skies agreement with the U.S. – a bilateral treaty that ensures fair competition in the aviation market. These subsidies essentially propped up Qatar Airways, wiping away massive losses and insulating the carrier from challenging market forces. The global aviation community correctly recognized that it would be impossible to compete with an airline that didn’t have to worry about profits or demand.

President Trump brought the Qatari government to the negotiating table and held it accountable for its dubious actions. A new agreement struck in January represented an opportunity for Qatar to turn the page, and for rule-abiding airlines to finally compete on a level playing field. Qatar pledged to be more transparent in its financial transactions and in a letter accompanying the agreement, said it had no plans to launch “fifth-freedom” routes, such as those from Europe to the United States.

The Qatari leadership has continued to do virtually everything it said it wouldn’t.

Qatar’s finances have only become murkier. In late 2017, prior to the latest agreement, Qatar Airways bought a 49 percent stake in the holding company of the long-troubled airline Air Italy (once known as Meridiana). Early this month, Air Italy announced it will launch new routes from Milan to San Francisco and Los Angeles next year.

This isn’t a coincidence. Qatar Airways is simply dumping its government subsidies into Air Italy, so it can gain access to the United States via the Italian airline. Air Italy would not have been able to launch these routes without the financial backing of Qatar Airways, and Qatar would have not been able to provide its backing without illegal subsidies. Prior to Qatar’s purchase, Air Italy was mainly serving just a few regional routes.

This puts the U.S. aviation industry and the 1.2 million jobs it supports at risk.

Even before news of Air Italy’s California routes came out, there was widespread concern that Qatar was violating the January agreement. Recently 11 senators, including Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, expressing concerns over Qatar Airways and Air Italy.

Consider this: Qatar’s ability to skirt markets and dump subsidies into pet projects is a fraction of a fraction of China’s capability.

This is why President Trump is taking China so seriously. He knows that he has to bring maximum toughness to every negotiation with China so China’s leaders begin to understand that cheating will not be tolerated.

[..]
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/newt-gi ... r-has-done

[rogerwilco]

Imbarazzante....
Adesso tocca sentire anche che l'apertura di due rotte per 2/3 frequenze la settimana mette a rischio l'aviazione degli Stati Uniti e 1,2 milioni di posti di lavoro che questa supporta...

Ma se temevano proprio un simile epilogo, e di fronte ad un simile rischio....perchè non hanno pensato di acquistarsi loro IG così da tenerla lontana dalle golfare e limitata alle proprie "rotte regionali". Almeno non ci sarebbe stato l'enorme rischio che un investitore spenda in maniera sacrosanta i propri soldi per far crescere l'azienda in cui ha investito aprendo delle rotte in una condizione di Open Sky.

[I-Alex]

che buffoni

[Mattia]

Some people familiar with the lobbying efforts by the American carriers concede there is little the airlines can do from a legal standpoint, given the lack of enforceable clauses in the deal. The open skies deal also does not prohibit fifth freedom rights. One of the people said that any solution was “likely to be diplomatic”.

That’s all

[canadian#affairs]

Una nota a margine.
In altre interviste, non prettamente pertinenti, Al Baker, che aveva precedentemente indicato Natale la data entro la quale avrebbe fatto sapere la sua permanenza in oneworld, ora prende tempo e dice che comunicherà entro febbraio la decisione.
A gennaio ci saranno gli incontri US-Qatar in tema di aviazione, immagino saranno determinanti quelle discussioni anche su questa prospettiva.

[EK412]

Da Forbes

If all that was meant to cower Air Italy, it has not worked. On December 18, Air Italy said it was going to launch a non-stop service from Milan to Chicago O’Hare International airport from mid-May. Chief operating officer Rossen Dimitrov said the new route “reflects the importance of the North American market to us.”

Dimitrov has also denied that his airline was being unfairly aided by Qatar. “We are registered in Italy and not subsidized by Qatar Airways, who are minority stakeholders,” he said at a recent event in Delhi to launch new services to India. “They do not manage us.”

The U.S. might struggle to find any reasonable grounds to stop these flights.

Air Italy will have gained some useful publicity from the episode, which will do it no harm at all as it pushes ahead with a significant overhaul of its operations.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdud ... 261968ba0f

[romaneeconti]

Molte grazie! :applausi:

[mik]

L'articolo di Forbes, mi pare equilibrato, e mette in luce un aspetto interessante.

Ignoro il livello di pubblicità che Air Italy sta impiegando per farsi conoscere in Nord America.

Di sicuro questa esposizione mediatica, ance se forse negli USA solo pochi si interessano di questa situazione, diffonde la conoscenza del brand e delle nuove rotte, oltre l'impatto di qualsiasi campagna pubblicitaria.

Quanto alla polemica delle 3 grandi USA conto Air Italy, non mi pare ci sia stata quando Etihad entrò, con lo stesso 49%, nel capitale di Alitalia...

Che sia di buon augurio ?? :fischio:

[malpensante]

"THEY do not manage us" è bellissimo, ricordando chi lo ha scelto, da dove viene e in sostanza chi è.

[mattaus313]

https://thepointsguy.com/news/the-airli ... GQODbT0uZ0


Qualche giorno fa ne ha anche parlato TPG

[canadian#affairs]

CEO di Delta


Ed Bastian: Air Italy’s mysterious benefactor
By: AJOT | Dec 21 2018 at 09:02 AM | Air Cargo News

How Qatari state subsidies flow to an obscure Italian airline, circumventing a key agreement with the U.S. and putting thousands of American jobs at risk.

Op-Ed by Ed Bastian

A Deutsche Bank airline analyst asked a question recently: “Who is funding Air Italy’s losses?”

In a Dec. 7 report, the firm noted the obscure Italian carrier produced a negative pretax margin - i.e., a loss - of 18.4 percent last year, on top of a negative margin of 9.2 percent in 2016, representing losses of hundreds of millions of euros. Yet despite its financial hemorrhaging, the airline suddenly has a fleet of brand new jets, and has announced a major global expansion of flights between Milan and North American cities including New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to solve this particular mystery. The airline’s benefactor is Qatar Airways, the government-owned airline of Qatar, which recently acquired 49 percent of Air Italy. Even though Qatar’s recent financial statements (which remain opaque) show that it is one of the worst performing airlines in the history of the airline industry with over $2 billion of operating losses over the past three years, Qatar has been giving its new acquisition billions of dollars’ worth of new airplanes, including Boeing 787 and 737 jets, with plans to deploy larger Boeing 777 and A350s as well. Qatar is using the tiny, close-to-defunct Air Italy to skirt its promise to the U.S. to not add so-called “Fifth Freedom” flights to the U.S., which are routes that operate outside of a carrier’s home country - such as nonstop flights between the U.S. and Europe.

Qatar’s promise was part of an agreement with the U.S. in which Qatar said it would finally take steps toward fair competition in aviation, after it had enjoyed the benefits of billions of dollars in government subsidies. These subsidies drove U.S airlines out of the Mideast and India, and threatened thousands of airline jobs in the U.S.

Only months later, Qatar is back to their old tricks, thumbing its nose at the Trump Administration with its clumsy scheme to get around its promises. These Italian routes, already highly competitive and well-served by existing carriers, are simply not economically viable without Qatari subsidies. By flooding these markets with subsidized capacity and dropping prices far below cost, Qatar is launching another assault on U.S. airline employees and travelers, and disrespecting the Administration.

We shouldn’t be surprised, given that if it played by the same rules as everyone else, Qatar Airways simply wouldn’t exist. It’s remarkable that in an era when global aviation is thriving, Qatar must keep its state-owned airline aloft with a massive infusion of subsidy dollars. The airline lost $1.3 billion in its most recent fiscal year, flew fewer passengers, and has said it may ask its government for another capital injection.

Thankfully, these concerns have gotten the attention of Congress. More than a dozen U.S. senators recently sent letters to the administration raising their concerns about the Air Italy-Qatar connection and its impact on U.S. jobs.

As the CEO of Delta, my No. 1 job is taking care of our 80,000 employees, who are the best in the business and work hard every day to ensure all of our flights are safe and reliable. On their behalf, I join those Senators in asking the Trump Administration to examine this situation and send a strong message to the Qatari government that these actions simply won’t be tolerated.

We should demand an answer to the Deutsche Bank question: Who is funding Air Italy’s losses?

https://www.ajot.com/news/ed-bastian-ai ... benefactor

[malpensante]

Chapter 11, perché non lo ricorda nessuno?

Questa intervista testimonia solo l'interesse di Delta per Alitalia.

[romaneeconti]

non vedo l'ora che DL entri in Alitalia e partecipi alle perdite per il suo 20% :ciapett:

[canadian#affairs]

Noto solo ora che la dichiarazione di cui sopra è pubblicata direttamente sul sito DL :eek:
https://news.delta.com/ed-bastian-op-ed ... benefactor

Di seguito una carrellata, per chi ha voglia e interesse di leggerli, di articoli, analisi. Chi pro, chi contro, chi concorda in parte.

840 viewsDec 21, 2018, 11:41am
Air Italy Is Just Qatar Airways Draped In An Italian Flag

Exploring new frontiers in commercial aviation, let’s take a chronically money-losing European airline and put it together with a heavily subsidized Middle East airline and then dramatically boost flying to the United States, even though the Middle East airline has indicated that it won’t.

What do you get?

“The Italian version of Qatar,” is what United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz called it earlier this month, during a conference call with reporters.

In 2017, Qatar purchased 49% of Air Italy, which very quickly thereafter adopted a Qatar strategy: Build a hub with rapid expansion of U.S. service. Carry connecting passengers between the U.S. and Asia.

This month, Air Italy announced plans for 2019 service from Milan to Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That’s after it began Milan service to JFK in June and to Miami in July. For January travel, Air Italy is selling roundtrip JFK-New Delhi seats for as little as about $900.

Last week, Delta arranged a reporters’ conference call where the financials were spelled out: Subsidized Qatar remains deeply unprofitable, suffering an operating loss of $1.4 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018. Over the years, it has received about $24 billion in government subsidies. Air Italy’s predecessor airline lost 52 million euros in 2015, 46 million euros in 2016 and 57 million euros in 2017. Larger losses are anticipated in 2018.

Business model: Lose money on every flight. Add flights. Costs are covered. In particular, airplanes are provided under undefined lease agreements.

Today Delta CEO Ed Bastian posted a column entitled “Air Italy’s Mysterious Benefactor” on Delta’s web site. “Qatari state subsidies flow to an obscure Italian airline, circumventing a key agreement with the U.S. and putting thousands of American jobs at risk,” Bastian wrote.

“Qatar is using the tiny, close-to-defunct Air Italy to skirt its promise to the U.S. to not add so-called ‘Fifth Freedom’ flights to the U.S,” he said. “Qatar has been giving its new acquisition billions of dollars’ worth of new airplanes, including Boeing 787 and 737 jets, with plans to deploy larger Boeing 777 and A350s as well.”

A few years ago, the big three Middle East airlines – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar – were similarly engaged in rapid U.S. growth, which has since been slowed by factors including diplomatic pressure from the Trump administration and Etihad’s financial problems.

“When the Trump administration negotiated an agreement with Qatar earlier this year to protect American jobs and restore fair competition to international aviation, the Qatari government agreed that its state-owned airline would not launch future fifth freedom flights to the U.S,” Scott Reed, campaign manager for the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies, has said.

Fifth freedom flights enable carriers to fly between two foreign countries. Whatever. Qatar Airways seems to have found a way around the agreement.

Qatar CEO Al Baker is one of the airline industry’s colorful characters. He makes outrageous statements. He shuttles between criticizing American Airlines and floating the possibility that he might buy 10% of it. He recently threatened to leave the OneWorld alliance and start a competitor, which arguably resembles threatening to hold his breath until he turns blue.

Ironically, recent history has turned Al Baker into something of a hero, fighting an air blockade of his country by neighbors including the United Arab Emirates, the home of like-minded subsidized airlines, Emirates and Etihad. The former has a successful, if subsidized, airline model: the latter has become an industry laughingstock, losing billions by investing in failing European carriers.

Etihad preceded Qatar in Italy, buying 49% of Alitalia in 2014 and then burning through about $2 billion before giving up in Italy.

The problem in Milan is that if you have no concerns about losing money, you are free to repeat the mistakes of the past, taunting competitors and ignoring agreements in the process.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/20 ... 4ef4f06eb8



The Air Italy Row is Heating Up: Delta CEO Says “Qatar is Back to Their Old Tricks”
MATEUSZ MASZCZYNSKI
21ST DECEMBER 2018

Ed Bastian, the chief exec of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines doesn’t appear to be feeling too much Christmas cheer right now. Instead, the longtime aviation executive is speaking out against Air Italy – a little known Italian airline that has reignited a fierce dispute between the largest U.S. carriers and Qatar Airways.

“Who is funding Air Italy’s losses?” asks Bastian in a new op-ed piece on Delta’s official website. He claims the airline produced a negative pretax margin of 18.4% last year – and that was on top of a 9.2% loss in 2016. Yet despite the losses, Air Italy has announced a slew of new long-haul routes in the last few months – the carrier has recently started flying to Dehli and Mumbai but what’s worrying Bastian is the airline’s expansion into North America.

“It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to solve this particular mystery,” Bastian declares. “The airline’s benefactor is Qatar Airways, the government-owned airline of Qatar, which recently acquired 49% of Air Italy,” he continues, saying Qatar Airways has gifted brand new long-haul aircraft worth billions of dollars to Air Italy

“Even though Qatar’s recent financial statements (which remain opaque) show that it is one of the worst performing airlines in the history of the airline industry with over $2 billion of operating losses over the past three years,” Bastian claims.

The Delta chief seems to have two main issues with Qatar Airways – First, it’s using its 49% stake in Air Italy to “skirt its promise to the U.S. to not add so-called “Fifth Freedom” flights to the U.S.” (as part of an agreement with the U.S. State Department earlier this year, Qatar penned a letter saying it didn’t currently have any plans to start Fifth Freedom routes between Europe and the USA). And second, Qatar has received billions of dollars in unfair government subsidies over the years which are now being pumped into Air Italy.

Bastian writes:

“Qatar is back to their old tricks, thumbing its nose at the Trump Administration with its clumsy scheme to get around its promises. These Italian routes, already highly competitive and well-served by existing carriers, are simply not economically viable without Qatari subsidies. By flooding these markets with subsidized capacity and dropping prices far below cost, Qatar is launching another assault on U.S. airline employees and travelers, and disrespecting the Administration.”

“We shouldn’t be surprised, given that if it played by the same rules as everyone else, Qatar Airways simply wouldn’t exist. It’s remarkable that in an era when global aviation is thriving, Qatar must keep its state-owned airline aloft with a massive infusion of subsidy dollars. The airline lost $1.3 billion in its most recent fiscal year, flew fewer passengers, and has said it may ask its government for another capital injection.”
In fact, some of the routes announced by Air Italy aren’t currently served by any airline in Italy and there is yet to be any proof that any American jobs have been lost because of competition from Persian Gulf carriers like Qatar Airways, as well as Emirates and Etihad Airways.

In contrast, the Middle East airlines say they contribute billions to the U.S. economy and are responsible for securing hundreds of thousands of American jobs by placing big aircraft orders with Seattle-based Boeing, as well as through business and tourism.

That being said, Bastian and his counterparts at American Airlines and United have stuck to the same rhetoric since they started campaigning against Middle East rivals so why would they stop now? They may even have a point and are getting the backing of U.S. lawmakers including Peter DeFazio who is set to take over the House transportation committee.

It’s definitely a debate that is not only worth having but is also going to keep on going and going. Competition is great and most airlines benefit from some form of subsidy or another but the concern here is that both Qatar Airways and Air Italy are receiving subsidies on a totally different scale – in turn, that makes it impossible for commercially minded airlines to compete.

Is Air Italy’s expansion a threat to U.S. jobs? Let us know what you think….

https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2018 ... ld-tricks/


Ed Bastian’s Dishonest Air Italy Op-Ed
DECEMBER 21, 2018 BY LUCKY 26
DELTA, QATAR
Delta’s war on Qatar Airways is back in full swing, despite the US and Qatar having come to an agreement earlier this year. The latest attack from Delta comes in the form of an op-ed from CEO Ed Bastian, which is dishonest and hypocritical, to put it mildly.

Before I get into the actual content of this op-ed, let me share what I consider to be both Delta’s best and worst trait — Delta only cares about Delta, and they’re darn good at it.

Delta does a great job of taking care of their shareholders, employees, and customers, and that’s admirable. But they’ll do so at just about any cost. When you look at their filings with the DOT, it’s amazing how they’ll flip flop their stances on things as it suits their interests.

Like I said, Delta is fiercely loyal to Delta. And that’s good on one hand. But it’s also off-putting.

The latest round of drama with Air Italy
Air Italy is a fast growing Italian airline. As we know, Alitalia is a basket case of an airline that has been losing a ton of money. Ultimately their situation worsened significantly when Etihad decided to no longer flush money down the toilet, and pulled funding from Alitalia.

Air Italy was previously a small airline (at the time known as Meridiana), but Qatar Airways saw an opportunity here. So they bought a 49% stake in Air Italy, and have been doing everything they can to make the airline grow.

Earlier this year Air Italy began flying to New York and Miami out of Milan (previously they flew to the US out of Naples and Palermo), and in the past few weeks they’ve announced new 2019 flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Toronto.

The US airlines take huge issue with this, claiming that Qatar Airways is using Air Italy to create fifth freedom routes in a roundabout way. They claim this violates the agreement the US and Qatar reached earlier this year, which simply isn’t true. At the time the countries agreed to the following:

Within one year, Qatar Airways will release audited financial statements in accordance with internationally-recognized accounting standards, and within two years they will disclose any transactions with other state-owned entities, such as caterers or other companies that support airline operations
A side letter states that Qatar’s civil aviation authority is “unaware of any plans by Qatar Airways to start fifth freedom flights;” note that Qatar Airways doesn’t say they won’t, just that they don’t have any plans to as of now
Qatar Airways never said that they wouldn’t launch fifth freedom flights, let alone that an airline they invested in wouldn’t start service to the US (which is very different than a fifth freedom flight).

Ed Bastian’s outrageous op-ed about Air Italy
One of the things that I find most frustrating about “news” nowadays is that facts are no longer facts. We’ve gotten to the point where people can just present lies as facts, and somehow we’re okay with that.

Ed Bastian’s op-ed about Air Italy is filled with dishonesty.

“Qatar has been giving its new acquisition billions of dollars’ worth of new airplanes, including Boeing 787 and 737 jets, with plans to deploy larger Boeing 777 and A350s as well.”

Why can’t we just be honest here? So far the airline has been given A330s and 737s. They haven’t been given any 787s (though there are plans for that in the future), and there are no plans for the airline to get 777s and A350s.

“Qatar is using the tiny, close-to-defunct Air Italy to skirt its promise to the U.S. to not add so-called ‘Fifth Freedom’ flights to the U.S., which are routes that operate outside of a carrier’s home country – such as nonstop flights between the U.S. and Europe.”

Why can’t we just be honest about what’s happening here? A fifth freedom flight is when an airline operates a flight from their home country to another country via a third country. This includes something like Emirates’ flight from Dubai to Milan to New York, or Singapore’s flight from Singapore to Frankfurt to New York.

Is Ed Bastian really suggesting that Qatar Airways’ goal here is to fly people from Doha to Milan on Qatar Airways, and then connect them from Milan to North American gateways that they already fly to (with the exception of San Francisco) using Air Italy? Why would they do that? That doesn’t even make sense.

It’s one thing if Ed Bastian wants to argue “Qatar Airways is making a financially unsound investment and is dumping capacity.” We could discuss that reasonably, and I’d even largely agree. But this has zero to do with fifth freedom flights.

Let me actually take it a step further here. If their intent was to create fifth freedom flights, they’d have good fares from XYZ (whatever city you want in the region) to Doha to Milan to the US. But they don’t. So this simply isn’t even in the picture.

“These Italian routes, already highly competitive and well-served by existing carriers, are simply not economically viable without Qatari subsidies.”

How can you be so dishonest? These routes are already well-served by existing carriers? Not a single airline flies nonstop from Chicago, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, to Milan.

“It’s remarkable that in an era when global aviation is thriving, Qatar must keep its state-owned airline aloft with a massive infusion of subsidy dollars. The airline lost $1.3 billion in its most recent fiscal year, flew fewer passengers, and has said it may ask its government for another capital injection.”

I’m not sure how much Ed Bastian is keeping up with global politics, but in case he wasn’t aware, the country of Qatar has had its most challenging year in decades, given the blockade with its neighbors. I think it’s completely expected the airline wouldn’t be doing great right now. Of course they carried fewer passengers than the previous year, they’re not allowed to fly to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which were previously some of their biggest markets.

Ed, are you this quick to forget the help that US airlines got after 9/11?

The irony in all of this
I think there’s a real conversation to be had about subsidies in the airline industry, and about the impact they have on global aviation. What bothers me is Delta’s horrible hypocrisy when it comes to this.

They take huge issue with Air Italy, right? Their issue is that they’re owned by a “subsidized” Gulf carrier and that they lose money.

For eight years, Delta had a transatlantic joint venture with Alitalia, meaning they were sharing revenue with them, and in turn, profiting off of them. Alitalia was 49% owned by Etihad, they lost a ton of money, and they were bailed out by the government repeatedly. Every single thing they’ve said about Air Italy should have also applied to Alitalia.

How many times did Delta say anything? Not once, because they stood to profit off it.

If government subsidies are such a huge issue, why would Delta invest in China Eastern, which is majority owned by the Chinese government?

Why would Delta partner closely with Jet Airways, which loses huge amounts of money and is owned by Etihad, another money-losing Gulf carrier?

The hypocrisy here is just astounding.

Delta isn’t opposed to government owned airlines. They’re opposed to government owned airlines when they don’t stand to gain anything.

Delta isn’t opposed to money losing and otherwise subsidized airlines. They’re opposed to these only when they don’t stand to again anything.

Bottom line
There’s a real conversation to be had regarding subsidies, but Delta isn’t having it. Instead they’re lying to no end and looking out only for themselves.

Do I believe Qatar Airways is dumping money into Air Italy, and that they’re growing too much too fast? Yes. Do I think this has anything to do with fifth freedom routes? No. Is it pathetic to me how Delta takes huge issues here, but had no issues with Alitalia for years, even though they were doing exactly the same thing? Yep.

Air Italy and Qatar Airways aren’t “disrespecting” Donald Trump, US airline jobs aren’t at risk (employment in the US airline industry is at an all time high), and if nothing else, the Gulf carriers spend a huge amount of money on new Boeing jets (which Delta doesn’t).

https://onemileatatime.com/ed-bastian-air-italy/


ENFORCEMENT — THE OTHER HALF OF TRADE AGREEMENTS
Douglas Holtz-Eakin

Eakinomics: Enforcement — The Other Half of Trade Agreements

The U.S. has now witnessed the full toolbox of the Trump Administration’s approach to trade agreements — the use of tariffs to precipitate a “crisis,” brinkmanship in negotiations, and agreements that are “better” even though they contain non-tariff barriers to trade, quotas, and tariffs (the best example is the re-negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement into the United States-Mexco-Canada Agreement). I will not spill further ink on the flaws of this strategy.

But I remain convinced that enforcing trade agreements is just as important as negotiating good ones. If agreements are not enforced effectively voters will distrust international trade (and they do) and they will not support maintaining and expanding international commerce. The U.S. has used a variety of mechanisms to enforce its agreements (see the AAF paper by Jacqueline Varas and me). As it turns out, the Trump Administration faces a critical test of its willingness to use these enforcement mechanisms in the coming months.

Recall that international air travel — that is, international trade in air transportation services — is governed by Open Skies agreements. These are 120 U.S. bilateral agreements designed to prevent government intervention in commercial airline travel. Under Open Skies, private airlines in all partner nations have the freedom to make their own decisions about airline routes, the number of flights, the types of aircrafts, and pricing. When it became apparent that the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had given over $52 billion in subsidies to Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, and Emirates, the State Department entered into negotiations to make sure the Open Skies agreements were effectively enforced. In particular, these subsidies permitted those airlines to run so-called “fifth freedom” flights at rates below their economic costs and to the detriment of fair competition; one goal was to eliminate such market distortions.

One year ago, Qatar Airways committed to greater financial transparency. The logic of this agreement was impeccable. If it was not possible to channel subsidies to the airlines, they would not be able to run unprofitable international routes, and pricing would be on a playing field level with international competitors. Any genuinely non-economic fifth freedom route would simply disappear. It appeared to be a big win for trade enforcement.

With a year of experience in the rear-view mirror, the picture is not quite so rosy. The financial reporting is not transparent enough to erase suspicions that the Qatar government continues to funnel billions in illegal subsidies to Qatar Airways. Instead of simply continuing to expand its fifth freedom transatlantic flights, however, Qatar Airways bought a 49 percent stake in the money-losing Air Italy, which turned around and launched flights to California and Chicago. For all practical purposes, Qatar Airways may simply be laundering its subsidies though control of Air Italy to produce the same end result: anti-competitive, government-subsidized international flights.

Given that the Trump Administration values “fair and reciprocal trade” as a key priority, it will be particularly interesting to observe how it pursues the enforcement of these agreements in early 2019.



Read more: https://www.americanactionforum.org/dai ... z5aLnDg34A
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[malpensante]

Virgin Atlantic, prima di finire nell'orbita di Delta, è stata di Singapore Airlines al 49% per tantissimi anni.

[canadian#affairs]

Non è direttamente legato, ma per non aprire un'altra discussione.
Le partecipanti alla JV atlantica di oneworld (AA, IB, AY, BA) hanno fatto richiesta congiunta presso il ministero dei trasporti americano di includere anche Aer Lingus. Mi sembra una mossa corretta e prevedibile per via del crescente network della compagnia irlandese in USA e Canada.

American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Finnair have jointly applied with the DOT to have their existing JBA ATI extended to fully cover Aer Lingus.

Parties state that with Aer Lingus fully participating in the ATI JBA consumers will benefit with closer network integration and connectivity, greater capacity, lower fares thanks to EI 'value carrier' fares, and help stimulate overall traffic.

OST-2008-0252