Time to discuss subsidies under Gulf Open Skies agreement

The May 19 letter to the editor “Don’t be hasty on Open Skies,” authored by U.S.-UAE Business Council President Danny Sebright, ignored some key facts in the debate over the subsidization of the Gulf airline carriers.  

Contrary to Sebright’s claims, we fully support Open Skies policy, which has helped facilitate the worldwide expansion of U.S. airlines. We are not asking the Obama administration to roll back the Open Skies agreement with the UAE Rather, we are simply asking that the U.S. government open consultations — under the auspices of the agreement — to address the massive subsidization of the Mideast airlines.

{mosads}These subsidies are the key concern of the U.S. aviation industry, and yet Sebright fails to acknowledge them — perhaps because the evidence is too overwhelming to rebut. As we have documented, the United Arab Emirates has provided over $25 billion in unfair subsidies to their state-owned airlines, Etihad Airways and Emirates, in just the last 10 years. With an oil-rich benefactor bankrolling new fleets and rapid service expansion, the UAE airlines are tilting the playing field against American companies, and the men and women who work in the aviation industry. Businesses cannot be expected to compete with the treasury of wealthy nations. This is the true threat to Open Skies.

And while Sebright is quick to mention the jobs supported by the trade relationship between the U.S. and the UAE, he ignores the hundreds of thousands of good-paying American jobs put at risk by the actions of the Gulf states and the airlines they back. The brazen subsidization of the Mideast carriers has put our domestic industry in a precarious position, prompting a majority in Congress and local leaders from across the country to call for immediate action from the Obama administration.

Our Open Skies agreements are only successful when both sides play by the same rules. The government should immediately seek consultations to quickly resolve this dispute and restore fair competition to the global aviation marketplace.

From Capt. Bob Coffman, Government Affairs Committee chairman at the Allied Pilots Association and American Airlines pilot, Fort Worth, Texas

Striking down insurance subsidies will cause chaos for consumers

The Supreme Court will soon issue its ruling in King v. Burwell, and if the ruling invalidates healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) issued in states without ObamaCare exchanges, chaos for those so subsidized can be expected. 

The crux of the problem is found in the drafting of the law, an error we are assured by the drafting Democrats was merely an unintended oversight. Others believe that the contentious wording was not an oversight, but rather was designed to force states to establish exchanges that serve as stage center for the ACA.

The commentariat that favors the ACA always refers to a partisan Supreme Court when the five moderate to conservative justices vote as a bloc, as if any such vote opposed by the four liberal jurists voting as a bloc renders the majority opinion somehow mephitic. Five moderate to conservative jurists voting together shows bias, but four liberals voting as a bloc is just good jurisprudence. 

And so it goes in the home of the free and land of the brave.

From Paul Bloustein, Cincinnati