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The very public squabble between the three big American airlines -- American, Delta and United in one corner and the three big Middle Eastern (ME3 as they are more commonly referred to) carriers -- Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways -- in the other corner entered another round at the on-going 71st Annual General Meeting of the 70 year old patriarch of the global aviation family, the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The reason for the fight is over who is getting more love and affection from the parents, in this case the sheikdoms of the Middle East which are helping the ME3 carry passengers who would otherwise have flown on the three American airlines. While the ME3 deny these allegations, the American carriers have approached the Obama Administration for help.
Taking exception to IATA DG Tony Tyler’s statement at the AGM that the global aviation body does not have the mandate to comment on the issue concerning the American carriers and ME3, Akbar Al-Baker, Group Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways, expressed concerns on the issue of calls of protectionism coming from certain sectors in the US.
“Those calls should be considered as part of the risk facing our industry. Any roll back of liberal market access and open sky policies will reverberate across the whole world and will lead to retaliatory protectionism in all aspects of trade,” he warned.
Akbar also reminded Tony that the 2008 IATA AGM had approved the ‘Agenda for Freedom’ which calls for unhindered access to international airlines to go about their business.
But despite the flow of bad blood at the end of the day there was unanimity among industry leaders that eventually it will be business as usual for the global airline industry when the fight is settled.
At a panel discussions of Chief Executive Officers, the President and CEO of Etihad Airways James Hogan pointed out that things “will” become better for the global industry something which Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, Lufthansa, Christoph Mueller, CEO, Malaysia Airlines and Brad Tilden, Chairman, President and CEO, Alaska Airlines agreed with.
This correspondent is in Miami at the invitation of the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
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