US: Airlines ask Trump to revisit Gulf deals

The dispute over a travel agreement between the US and Gulf carriers is heating up, with the 3 largest US airlines pushing the Trump administration to revisit the deal. The US has roughly 120 so-called Open Skies agreements with countries all around the world; each allows almost unfettered access to locations in each country. The largest American carriers say that airlines in the Middle East are not holding up their end of the Open Skies agreements by accepting billions of dollars in subsidies from their govts. “No normal business can do what the Gulf carriers are doing; the airlines would not exist if not for these subsidies. That’s trade 101. These are issues that the administration understands, they addressed how they feel about trade cheating during the campaign,” said a spokeswoman for the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies. <br/>