APA: "time for Gulf carriers to open their books"

[WorldTraveler]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/allied-pilots-association-time-gulf-110000260.html


"The massive government subsidies that have flowed to these Gulf carriers have tilted the playing field, posing a serious threat to U.S. jobs and the long-term viability of our nation’s airline industry. Government subsidies have enabled Gulf carriers to dump product into the marketplace irrespective of demand or profit-and-loss considerations. It’s time for Gulf carriers to open the books.

“The U.S. airline industry represents a vital national asset — one that generates hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs and indirectly supports many more. We deserve a level playing field."


kudos to the APA.

Pressure is building on both sides of the Atlantic against the ME3.

US airline labor unions should be squarely behind efforts by the ME3 to attack the largest int'l traffic region for US airlines - across the Atlantic - where the ME3 already operates routes between the US and Europe.

 

[WorldTraveler]

US airline employees should not doubt the difference in the way Middle East airlines treat their employees and what happens in the US.

Senior (Qatar) VP Rossen Dimitrov emailed—to the entire cabin-crew team—a photo of an apparently passed-out flight attendant sprawled across the floor of a building where she was said to be staying, the Daily Star reports.

"Attached, please see a photo of a CSD who had returned heavily intoxicated to her accommodation," he wrote in the email. "She was dropped off at the entrance of her building and left there sleeping until other crew members found her and carried her up to her apartment." "I am so ashamed and disturbed by this behavior displayed by a tenured member of our team, an adult who has been with the company for over 9 years," he continued in his directive-against-drunkenness diatribe.

"How can we change rules when we do not behave as mature individuals." The airline verified the email and added that the e-humiliation was a reminder to employees to respect "the [norms], values, and society of Qatar," the Star notes

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The US DOT says it is investigating the US3's claims and reports say that DOT officials say it involves the largest amount of international subsidies that it has ever seen.

 

[end_of_alpa]

Travel advocates, FedEx join forces to maintain US Open Skies policy
 
A group of lobbyists and a FedEx Express executive accused the three US major airlines of trying to roll back the clock on Open Skies policy and keep out international competition.
 
http://atwonline.com/open-skies/travel-advocates-fedex-join-forces-maintain-us-open-skies-policy

 

[WorldTraveler]

there will always be economic interests who are content to see the law broken if they can profit from what is going on.

I am encouraged that the DOT is examining the books closely and is willing to act to ensure that the Open Skies agreements as they ACTUALLY are written are enforced. Open Skies agreements require transparency and freedom from government intervention in economic activities.

Given the changing tide on both sides of the Atlantic, FedEx and Boeing will likely have to learn how to adapt in a world where playing fair is required of all parties.

If the ME3 economies are going to ship packages and buy airplanes, they will whether their airlines are subsidized or not.

If shipping packages via the Middle East and buying huge numbers of aircraft only was possible becauses of broken treaties, then someone else will buy the planes and another country that plays by the rules will allow the packages to transit their countries.

 

[Overspeed]

Lufthansa and AF/KLM also speak out against subsidies
 
http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/france-germany-protest-gulf-carrier-encroachment

 

[WorldTraveler]

this is exactly the time when the US3 and at least the continental EU3 speak out jointly against subsidies for the ME3 and it is working this time.

and as much as some want to believe otherwise, the US and Europe do a pretty good job of defending unfair trade in other industries but don't have many mechanisms for enforcing open and free trade in aviation.

If nothing else, the outcome will likely be that the US and EU will agree to disclosure requirements that meet global accounting standards that will show whether countries engage in fair trade in aviation as well. and with those types of requirements, the ME3 will undoubtedly be shown to NOT be doing that and the US and EU will succeed at slowing the growth of the ME3

and again, it is noteworthy that ALPA and AA's two biggest unions - the independent APA and APFA - see the threat to US jobs but multi-industry unions like the IAM cannot and will not take a stance on ME3 subsidies and protection of US airline jobs because they also represent workers in aerospace that benefit for now from the huge orders that the ME3 use to try to confuse the issue between aerospace and airline workers.

what the US and EU both have to say is that they won't allow one industry to become collateral damage in order to win business for the other. Fair trade can and should be used in ALL industries.

if the ME3 are really that great, they will order airplanes regardless of whether they can damage the EU and US 3 or not.

 

[jcw]

You are 66% of the posts on this thread are you debating yourself

 

[WorldTraveler]

I am keeping the issue alive... it is an indictment against US airline workers that few of them take this issue seriously.

if the ME3 are allowed to start flying freely across the Atlantic of the Pacific - which Open Skies with each of the countries involved could do - there will be thousands of US carrier jobs that are lost

 

[Kev3188]

You are 66% of the posts on this thread are you debating yourself

Are you surprised?

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

You are 66% of the posts on this thread are you debating yourself

 
If only spectator could join the discussion, I'm sure he would agree with World Fraudster.

 

[WorldTraveler]

and again, if you aren't smart enough to recognize that your job is at stake - if you actually work for a US carrier - by the ME3, then the problem is yours.

of course, Kev is safely hiding in some little city that won't ever see a foreign carrier int'l flight so he thinks he is safe and he also isn't willing to admit that the IAM can't protect US airline employees because of their shared loyalty to Boeing employees.

but, hey, Kev got his so despite his feigned interest in solidarity, he isn't going to tell the IAM they won't work.

the APA, ALPA, and APFA all are capable of recognizing the threat to US carrier jobs - which should say volumes about their ability to represent airline employee interests better than the IAM and other multi-industry unions.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

and again, if you aren't smart enough to recognize that your job is at stake - if you actually work for a US carrier - by the ME3, then the problem is yours.
 

 
Why do you make assumptions of what industry or who I work for?
BTW:  why are you panties in a wad about the ME3 anyways?  You don't work for a US carrier and you certainly exhibit great disdain for unions and union members ... ... ... wait, wait, wait, unless the greatest threat from the ME3 would be to an ATL-based carrier ... ... ... and the ME3 could throw another wrinkle in your DL rules the world fairy tale ... ... ...

 

[Kev3188]

Using (often) inaacurate assumptions to draw self-satisfying conclusions are what people like WT do best.

 

[WorldTraveler]

and you don't know the definition of "IF"

and Kev like so many others would like to deflect the attention from the issue at hand, the ME3 and organized labor's ability at AA and among pilots to address it, while failing to find an even halfway excuse for the IAM who has to divide its loyalties being Boeing employees and airline industry employees.

and Kev can't deny that his job is likely safe regardless of what the ME3 does to US carriers.

the APFA and APA are addressing key issues for airline industry employees and I commend them.

 

[Kev3188]

I rest my case.