Congress Aims To Keep Flight Prices High For Consumes In Letter To Trump Demanding Stopping Emirates Flight

Congress Aims To Keep Flight Prices High For Consumes In Letter To Trump Demanding Stopping Emirates Flights

We’ve extensively covered numerous times where U.S. Airline companies have sought to stamp out competition based on the fact that they consider some foreign airlines, who are subsidized by government, To be unfairly impacting the marketplace.  Of course this argument is nonsense for two reasons: (1) consumers get lower fares when there is competition and (2) U.S. Carriers get their own share of subsidies, whether it be fuel subsidies or loopholes in the tax system that prevent them from having to pay taxes.

Now, Congress has gotten into the discussion with the hopes of preventing Emirates route from Greece to Newark to continue.  The route is set to begin operation on March 12.  Since Trump came to the White House, there have been numerous attempts to convince him to put limits on foreign airlines entering U.S. Markets.

Twenty-five members of Congress sent a letter to President Trump saying, “…It would be prudent for your Administration to bar the commencement of the Athen to Newark flight until it has had the opportunity to negotiate a meaningful resolution which addresses the ongoing subsidies provided by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to their flagged carriers.”

The letter, on its surface, is just another round of ridiculousness out of Congress, who is more focused on representing big corporations thanks the well-being of the millions of citizens of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, who will have more access to affordable flights that can take them around the world.  Let’s be completely honest about what this letter is about:  it’s about standing up for the U.S. Carriers so they can avoid competition and charge passengers what they want to charge, without a threat from outside airlines.

Let’s hope that President Trump does not give in to the numerous voices across the U.S. Aviation sector that are calling for limits on foreign carriers.  Foreign carriers, subsidized or otherwise, offer great opportunities for more people to get the chance to afford global travel. That’s a good thing we should celebrate, not something we should be looking to limit.