Breaking News: President Trump and his Administration are Taking Action Against Open Skies Violations

An official announcement is coming Tuesday that as a result of the President’s leadership on trade enforcement to safeguard U.S. jobs, the State of Qatar has agreed to end its market distorting subsidies. According to Reuters, “Qatar must take steps to ensure that the transactions are conducted on commercial terms.” This is a major victory for U.S. airlines & their employees who can compete with any airline in the world when the playing field is level.News reports are confirming that the State of Qatar and its state-owned airline, Qatar Airways, will “commit to greater financial transparency and to not run any indirect flights to the U.S. through other countries as part of an agreement with the Trump administration addressing U.S. carriers’ accusations that their Gulf competitors get unfair government help.” (source: Bloomberg Government, Nick Wadhams & Mike Sasso)

Americans for Fair Skies (A4FS) applauds President Trump and his Administration for their steadfast commitment to trade enforcement. The Administration’s decision to set up a framework for accountability shows leadership and vision to create a sustainable path for resolving trade enforcement issues within Open Skies agreements into the future.

According to Peter Carter, the chief legal officer of Delta Air Lines: “This would be a landmark milestone for the American airline industry that will protect our workers and ensure that our foreign competitors play by the rules and do not undermine our international agreements.” (source: Bloomberg Government, Nick Wadhams & Mike Sasso)

As President Trump said last week, “Just like we expect the leaders of other countries to protect their interests, as president of the United States, I will always protect the interests of our country, our companies, and our workers. We will enforce our trade laws and restore integrity to our trading system. Only by insisting on fair and reciprocal trade can we create a system that works not just for the U.S., but for all nations.”

Americans for Fair Skies and the many tens of thousands of aviation workers who have spoken up in support of our effort and have been the backbone of our campaign for fairness, sends its sincere appreciation to President Trump and his Administration for taking meaningful action to end the aviation subsidies by the State of Qatar to its state-owned airline, Qatar Airways.

Expect to hear more from Americans for Fair Skies as additional news about this tremendous progress towards a level playing field in international aviation is released at the official U.S.-Qatari meeting on Tuesday.​