The fracas between the ME3 and US3 is getting attention. Kudos to CAPA for setting up this debate. The people involved in the two hour debate were:
American Airlines, Senior VP Government Affairs, Will Ris
Americans for Fair Skies, President, Lee Moak
Delta Air Lines, Executive VP & Chief Legal Officer, Ben Hirst
Etihad, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Jim Callaghan
FedEx Express, Senior VP & General Counsel, Rush O’Keefe
US Travel Association, President & CEO, Roger Dow
WTTC, President & CEO, David Scowsill
Its a long video but this is a very important subject. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. We’d like to see how the readership “votes”.
This is not about competition or market share, this is about 5th freedom traffic rights on the transatlantic in the future. The Emirates Milan/NY flight is used to test the market, if successful EY will go for it. The US3 need to invest in equipment and service quality and that will raise fares and they will lose market share. However, the ASA may affect Emirates which has not received subsidies but rather preferential treatment. Etihad does not need the ASA, they own European airlines (Alitalia, Airberlin and who knows what else in the future). Qatar is following suit with a 10% equity in IAG.
Good points