US airlines canvass Obama Administration to freeze out Gulf carrier growth

Byerly was speaking at the Routes Americas Strategy Summit in Denver and said that executives from American Airlines, Delta and United had met with two senior members of President Obama’s Cabinet and other senior administration officials to discuss a potential freeze on the number of flights that the Gulf carriers may operate into the USA.

Routes Online reported that airlines are calling on the Administration to freeze the number of flights that the Gulf carriers may operate, to potentially renegotiate the Open Skies agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to impose severe capacity restrictions, and if renegotiation doesn’t succeed, to terminate the agreements and allow growth in the future only if US carriers wish to expand service into those Gulf markets.

“What is all too apparent is that these opponents of Open Skies want to maintain full opportunities for US airlines where it is to their advantage but to close the door in markets where competitors pose a challenge,” Byerly told Routes Online. “Having grown and prospered using Open Skies rights, they now want to pull up the ladder and deny others the same opportunity,” he said.

Byerly is now an independent industry consultant and is recognised for his work negotiating early open skies agreements between the USA and Canada in 1995 and the USA and countries in Central America in the late 1990s.
“It is deeply worrisome when the US mega-carriers and their alliance partners shift their focus from competing in the marketplace to persuading our government, and governments abroad, to limit market access by carriers that aren’t part of their chummy club and don’t follow their rules of so-called capacity discipline.
“And I object when they band together to demand that the United States turn its back on Open Skies agreements where, through their own lack of foresight and intiative, they lag behind in the market,” he added.

RIGHT: Byerly at the Denver conference - PIC: (c) Billypix

According to Routes Online, Byerly heaped praise on the Gulf carriers and European operator Norwegian which has established operations “based on sound competitive principles.” He said such carriers represent innovation, a willingness to contest markets, and a commitment to finding success through competition and not by persuading regulators to throw up the walls of protectionism.

To see the Routes Onlinel interview go to: http://goo.gl/r2Uzwo