Emirates airline says 'nothing to resolve' in Open Skies row
MIAMI (Reuters) - The president of carrier Emirates said there is nothing to resolve in the Open Skies dispute and that if the United States (U.S.) government restricts the policy, then it would also have to cancel the anti-trust immunity deals that apply to U.S. carriers on transatlantic joint ventures.
"If you freeze, you restrict, you breach the Open Skies regime, that's a unilateral hostile act, you must cancel all anti-trust agreements immediately," Tim Clark told journalists on Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) in Miami.
In the United States, airlines are trying to persuade the U.S. government to alter the "Open Skies" agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, accusing them of lavishing their airlines with more than $40 billion (26 billion pounds) in subsidies and distorting competition. Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways deny the subsidy claims.
Clark said though that here did not see that there was an issue to resolve because the Open Skies agreement only sets out grievance procedures for allegations of price action, not subsidies.
"The agreement did not address things like the accusation they have made against us," he said.
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Edward Taylor)
