Southwest Pilots' Union Joins Battle Against Gulf Carriers

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) added its name to the “Partnership for Open & Fair Skies” coalition of U.S. airlines and unions waging a bitter campaign against rival Persian Gulf carriers. The coalition contends that Gulf nations subsidize their state-owned carriers to the detriment of American industry and in contravention of open skies trade agreements.

SWAPA, which represents nearly 8,000 Southwest pilots, joins a mounting standoff that pits American, Delta and United airlines against Qatar Airways and UAE-based carriers Emirates of Dubai and Etihad of Abu Dhabi. Earlier this month, the U.S. departments of State, Commerce and Transportation said they would conduct a formal proceeding to assess the allegations of improper subsidies made by the U.S. airlines.

The Air Line Pilots Association, the Allied Pilots Association, the Teamsters airline division, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the Communications Workers of America and the Transport Workers Union are the other members of the U.S. industry coalition.

“These government-owned Gulf carriers are not playing by the rules their governments agreed to when they signed open skies agreements with the U.S.,” SWAPA president Paul Jackson stated in an April 23 release. “Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline are being fueled by tens of billions of dollars in state subsidies. That not only puts U.S. airlines at a competitive disadvantage, but also jeopardizes jobs throughout the U.S. airline industry.”

American, Delta and United sparked the controversy earlier this year when they released a white paper, which was prepared over the course of two years, making the case that Gulf carriers in the last decade received $42.3 billion in subsidies from their governments. On April 21, the U.S. carriers released documentation they used to compile the white paper, consisting of more than 1,000 pages of financial statements, charter documents and other records from corporate registries in countries where the Gulf carriers have local operations.