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Home  >  American Airlines • Delta Air Lines • emirates • Etihad • Middle East Subsidies • Qatar Airways • United Airlines  >  A Dishonest Smear in the Fight Over Gulf Subsidies
American AirlinesDelta Air LinesemiratesEtihadMiddle East SubsidiesQatar AirwaysUnited Airlines

A Dishonest Smear in the Fight Over Gulf Subsidies

Matthew Klint Posted onJuly 20, 2017July 20, 2017 11 Comments

Earlier this month, Delta released a “documentary” attacking the Gulf Carriers. I didn’t even write about it because it represents unadulterated propaganda. But now a friend was attacked for criticizing it and I feel obligated to weigh in. Be warned: in the age of the new media, truth is often a victim and has been sacrificed on the altar of very dubious, ethically suspect policy interests at the behest of U.S. airlines.

I want you to spend 15 minutes and watch Delta’s video. In terms of production, it is exceptionally well done. In fact, without a helpful guide, you might be convinced.

But there is so much wrong with this video. Lucky and Gary articulate it nicely: please read both of their pieces if you want a point-by-point analysis of why this documentary is so wrong.

My Attempt to Make Sense of This

I’m going to go about this differently and try to summarize the problem with this documentary in a single paragraph. Here goes-


While U.S. carriers are entitled to question subsidies under Fair Skies, their tactics undermine their argument and expose their true motive: to destroy healthy competition. Gulf carriers create thousands of high-paid U.S. manufacturing jobs and employee tens of thousands of Americans directly and indirectly in the same way Delta does. Economists call this the multiplier effect. Gulf carriers open more markets to more people with lower prices and better service. Furthermore, U.S. carriers take advantage of the same subsidies, tax breaks, and government policies they accuse Gulf carriers of unfairly profiting from. Case in point: U.S. bankruptcy laws. Bottom line, U.S. carriers are afraid of Gulf competition and have used a campaign of deception to promote confusion and mistruth.


There’s so much more to be said, but I think this gets to the heart of the matter. I find it incredible that the U.S. aviation industry, which was built on subsidies and continues to take advantage of tax breaks, government-funded infrastructure, and corporate-friendly labor and biz org laws to reap massive profits, can make the arguments in the video with a straight face. The idea that U.S. carriers will ever go out of business is laughable. The point of these efforts are to protect the bottom line of three airlines by limiting choice and raising prices for the traveling public.

The video offers the following graphic–

Forget for one moment that the China numbers are incomplete or that Qatar is not part of the UAE. What does this graphic show? That Gulf carriers are investing in U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Furthermore, shame on Delta for playing to bigotry by subtly trying to link the Gulf Carriers to terrorism and offering a disgusting, jingoistic section on transporting troops in the video. Quite ironic that Delta is happy to provide government-subsidized troop transport charters that increase its bottom line at the expense of the open market.

And Now They Attack Lucky

Yesterday, a shady lobbying group called Americans for Fair Skies released an article attacking my friend and fellow blogger Ben Schlappig (Lucky). While Lucky certainly does not need me to defend him, I am going to do it anyway.

The article disingenuously accuses Lucky of failing to understand the danger of Gulf Carriers, resorting to the same trite points that have been continually debunked.

Americans for Fair Skies is correct on one thing. It states, “What’s actually on the line here: American jobs and American consumers’ interests.” That is indeed on the line, but in exactly the opposite way this interest group would have you believe. American jobs are on the line if Emriates, Etihad and Qatar are forced out. Thousands will be lost. American consumers’ interests will also be hit when they are forced to pay more for inferior service on older planes.

Why does Delta attack Jennifer Aniston for creating this commercial for Emirates?

Because it is so poignantly true.

The truth hurts and if the U.S. “Big 3” (American, Delta, United) have their way, you will experience less service for a higher price. Fewer American jobs as well…

Conflict of Interest

Who does that benefit beyond the stockholders and executive at the big three? Maybe Americans for Fair Skies, which is run by a former Delta captain named Donald Lee Moak who paid his consulting company over $1MN in 2015 for work on this project. And just where does this money come from? While Americans for Fair Skies calls itself a “grassroots group of concerned Americans” it does not say. My bet: almost exclusively from the checkbooks of AA, DL, and UA.

Lucky asks three questions–

  • Why do they continue to accept US government subsidies on many routes?

  • Why do they specifically target Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar, and not the dozens of other airlines that are part of the Open Skies agreement and are government subsidized?

  • If they truly believe that these airlines are doing business illegally, then why does American continue to partner with both Etihad and Qatar?

These are excellent questions that I would love to see American for Fair Skies or even Delta CEO Ed Bastian answer without first consulting with legal counsel and carefully choreographing a response.

I’m less concerned about the second question — I know that U.S. carriers are attacking the three largest Gulf Carriers because they represent the biggest threat. But talk about hypocrisy on the part of Delta when SkyTeam partners including Alitalia, China Eastern, China Southern, and Saudia are heavily subsidized.

CONCLUSION

The debate rages on with a concerted effort at confusion by the U.S. airlines and the self-interested groups that back them. I’ll end with this: U.S. carriers would not be fighting Gulf Carriers if these carriers did not offer a highly attractive alternative. By all means, prove the harm of subsidies (while simultaneously reporting record profits) but please stop asserting that you are looking out for anyone but yourselves. Stop smearing people far brighter and more honest than yourselves who dare to speak the truth. Your duplicity is detestable.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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11 Comments

  1. henry LAX Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 10:41 am

    first of all, i don’t really take sides on this whole charade between US3 and ME3. There’s enough BS on both sides for me to simply not care.

    second, dishonest smears are par for the course for politics. he decided to take sides on that debate (even though his expertise is travel not geopolitics), so he, or for that matter, anyone else, shouldn’t be a single bit shocked that they’ll go after him.

    playing the victim card isn’t gonna score him a whole lot of brownie points if he wants to play in the shark tank.

  2. Eric J. Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 10:43 am

    I like Lucky but they can smear Jennifer Aniston all they want, I never saw the appeal of her.

  3. Matt Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 10:51 am

    Delta has not placed orders for Boeing jets recently , instead they have placed orders for Airbus A350. Whereas the ME3 have been placing some nice orders with Boeing

    • Der Fliegende Amerikaner Reply
      July 20, 2017 at 3:34 pm

      Yes we all know about the Boeing 787, the great All-American plane

  4. James Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 11:12 am

    If any of smoke, or at least ever taste a cigarettes, the following example might work.

    American is a big tobacco consumer and also producer. Marlboro, Lucky Strike, to name a few. All of a sudden, there’s a brand new cigarettes on the market, and gaining popularity. Clove cigarette, aka ‘kretek’ from Indonesia. Not a big player compared to the worldwide Marlboro and/or Lucky Strike. But gaining market share quickly and significantly. What do american industry did? They make the congress established law that declares clove cigarette is illegal (only menthol taste allowed). Indonesia filed a complaint via WTO and won, but at that time one of the big producers (Sampoerna Tbk.) already owned by Phillip Morris.

    The point is, american corporations will do any available way to ensure their maximum profits. It doesn’t matter whether a smear stupid campaign against the raising of gulf carrier or attacking a freedom of speech of american citizen.

    They way of thinking is really simple. I want it. I’m going to get it. At any cost.

  5. Deepak Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 11:59 am

    Even objectively speaking, I think its high time that the ME3 hired their own lobbying groups to call out the lies, deceit and blatant exploitation of patriotism and racism to unethically drive out competition all for their own bottom line and nothing else. It saddens me that huge corporations like themselves will exploit thousands and thousands of people just to profit from it

    • James Reply
      July 20, 2017 at 12:32 pm

      “will exploit thousands and thousands of people just to profit from it” capitalism at its best!!!!

  6. Jay Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    Excellent article Mathew. The blatant dishonesty of the US Big 3 and Americans for Fair Skies is shocking. More people need to call them out and hold them accountable. If they had their way choices will be limited and prices will rise. Keep holding their feet to the fire and maybe they will be forced to compete fairly.

  7. PM1 Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 2:27 pm

    Great rebuttal Matthew! The blatant lies and protectionist nonsense amazes me. Thank you for defending Ben and calling a spade a spade.

  8. Kerry Reply
    July 20, 2017 at 11:29 pm

    Matthew a great rebuttal but missed a key – astonishingly Hypocritical point in the delta statement against Lucky: “if we, as a nation, don’t take action to stop these subsidies, airline jobs will go the way of the maritime industry and rapidly disappear.”

    I work In the maritime industry – The reason – and the sole reason – that the US went from global preeminence to a minor has been is down to a little piece of legislation called the Jones Act, pressuredthrough by fearful American shippers.

    The link is here:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_of_1920

    In short by restricting cabotage to US vessels with US crew and mandating all US Shipping lines to use only US equipment and crew, we rapidly killed an industry. Today, ask Mitsubishi or Sumitomo or Cosco how they feel about this?

    The fact that Delta and cronies are actually citing this scares me – this industry was crushed due to the unfair pseudo-nationalistic protectionism that Delta specifically wants put in place.

    • James Reply
      July 21, 2017 at 2:39 am

      That’s exactly the point! They know they won’t survive competition, therefore they need protectionism. Do they care about the industry? Obviously not. Jobs, soldiers, industries are nothing more than gimmicks for the short minded to believe them. Their only concern is their own pocket. And will do anything for the benefit of it. As simple as that

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