Airline pilots, flight attendants and other workers based at O’Hare International Airport banded together Tuesday to warn that alleged unfair subsidies to Middle East airlines by their governments will cost jobs in Chicago and across the nation.
However, one U.S. travel group said the foreign carriers are good for Chicago.
Workers from United, American and Southwest airlines, which together employ some 25,000 in Chicago, said during a news conference Tuesday that every international widebody aircraft route lost will cost 800 airline jobs.
Subsides are like baseball’s “steroids or corked bats that are being used by the Gulf carriers to tilt the playing field to their advantage,” said Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot speaking on behalf of the 1,000 American pilots at O’Hare and 15,000 nationwide. “Thousands of family members’ livelihoods are under immediate threat.”
With all the new aircraft the Gulf carriers have on order, their widebody aircraft capacity will exceed that of the United States, Tajer said. “This from two countries that have a combined population of that of Rhode Island,” he said. “It just makes no sense.
“We are ready to compete on a level playing field and are not going to stand by while foreign governments write blank checks, tilting that playing field. Enough is enough.”
The largest airlines, including Delta, and major airline unions, have said for months that rapidly expanding Persian Gulf carriers have received $42 billion in illegal subsidies from their governments over the past decade. Those state-owned Gulf carriers — Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways — deny getting unfair subsidies.
The U.S. mega-carriers have asked the U.S. government to seek talks with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to resolve what they see as violations of so-called Open Skies policies with those nations and to stop Gulf carriers from adding flights to the U.S.
The Gulf carriers have lashed back against the U.S. airlines’ relentless campaign. For example, Etihad released its own report detailing what it calls $71.5 billion in government and court-sanctioned benefits and concessions U.S. airlines have received, including bankruptcy protection and pension fund “bailouts.” U.S. airlines have said those don’t count as unfair subsidies.
Emirates airline vigorously defended itself earlier this summer, releasing a written rebuttal that goes on for some 200 pages and hosting an 80-minute news conference by its president.
The alleged subsidies, in the form of interest-free loans, grants, fee exemptions and below-market labor costs, have saved the Gulf carriers billions of dollars, said Capt. Eric Popper, representing about 1,500 United Airlines pilots. “Our unions support Open Skies agreements when they are fair and level, but that is not the case with Qatar and United Arab Emirates,” he said.
Chicago, because it is a hub for two major U.S. airlines, is a prime example of what is at risk if nothing is done to address the subsidies that the Gulf carriers get, said Erica Levy, a United Airlines flight attendant with the Association of Flight Attendants. “The Gulf carriers who are violating the Open Skies agreements are threatening our livelihoods,” she said. “We just cannot let that happen.”
Jena Olsen, an American Airlines flight attendant representing the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said the Gulf carriers have unfair labor practices, alleging that Qatar, for example, discriminates against pregnant flight attendants and forbids unions.
“These workers have no say in their working conditions or their safety standards, and they have no legal rights,” Olsen said.
However, the U.S. Travel Association said concerns of U.S. carriers are overblown and that the big three airlines “are on a mission to selectively freeze some service from foreign carriers that threatens their competitive stranglehold, but provides untold benefits to travelers and Chicago’s economy and jobs market.”
In a statement, the association said Open Skies brings more overseas visitors to Chicago, fueling economic growth, job creation and higher tax revenue, and the warnings from big airlines that they will cut jobs and flights are “just tired, empty threats.”
“Flights by Gulf carriers complement, and do not overlap, service by the Big 3 U.S. airlines to Chicago,” it said.
The presence of Southwest at the news conference was unusual, considering it is mostly a domestic airline, has little direct competitive exposure to new Gulf carrier routes and has not been a vocal player in the dispute.
But Southwest Capt. Kyle Moore said the issue affects the viability of the entire U.S. aviation industry. “It’s about a healthier industry and aviation jobs, not only in Chicago but across the United States,” he said.
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