Delta: Qatar Airways’ Doha-Atlanta flights won’t be successful

Delta executives predicted Qatar Airways’ daily Doha-Atlanta Boeing 777-200 flights, scheduled to start on June 1, will fail financially and reiterated that waging a campaign against Gulf airlines’ alleged subsidies remains a top priority. Outgoing Delta CEO Richard Anderson, who has been vocal in the campaign waged by Delta, American and United against Middle East airlines Qatar, Emirates and Etihad, did not participate in Delta’s April 14 Q1 earnings conference call. But executives made it clear Delta has no plans to ease up in its quest to persuade the US government to take action related to the three Middle East airlines and the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which Delta alleges unfairly subsidize the carriers. “This is our number one priority in Washington,” Delta EVP and chief legal officer Peter Carter said. “We have reason to believe the US government will do the right thing. Having said that, this is a diplomatic issue and it will take some time.” Meanwhile, EVP and incoming Delta president Glen Hauenstein knocked Qatar’s Doha-Atlanta route during the conference call, saying O&D demand on the route is “less than five people a day.” He added, “We don’t think they’ll be successful... We don’t have any flights crossing the world that have [demand for] less than 10 people a day.”<br/>