US: Airline trade group launches ad campaign to support open skies agreements

A trade group representing three familiar US brands — JetBlue Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and FedEx — is criticising United, American Airlines and Delta in a new advertising campaign, arguing the big airlines’ efforts to discredit the three largest Gulf carriers will harm US business interests. It’s a small ad buy, and it will only run for two weeks on social media and in Washington, D.C.-area media. But through a group called US Airlines for Open Skies, JetBlue, Hawaiian and Fedex, along with shipping company Atlas Air, suggest United, Delta and American are distorting facts to try to prop up their businesses and avoid competition. “The legacy carriers don’t speak for all — or even most — US airlines,” the group said in one of its ads. The group, which was founded in 2015, argues many US entities benefit from the Open Skies agreements American, Delta and United have criticised. The agreements permit Emirates, Etihad and Qatar to start as many new US routes as they want, including one-stop flights routed through Europe. But they also permit Fedex to operate a regional hub in Dubai, and they give Hawaiian and JetBlue unfettered access to many of the world’s most important airports.<br/>