Air Italy flights to Chicago risk rekindling row with U.S. carriers

Air Italy will start flying to Chicago next year, a move likely to revive a dispute between its minority shareholder Qatar Airways and USrivals trying to squeeze Gulf operators out of their domestic market. Formerly known as Meridiana, Air Italy is the country’s second-largest airline, behind ailing Alitalia, and state-owned Qatar Airways holds a 49% stake in it. Air Italy will fly to Chicago three times a week from Milan Malpensa airport starting from May 14, 2019, COO Rossen Dimitrov said. Since 2015 the largest US carriers — Delta, American Airlines and United — have argued their Gulf rivals are being unfairly subsidised by their governments, distorting competition. Gulf airlines have always denied those accusations and in May the companies reached a voluntary agreement, saying they would not add new flights to the United States. However, Air Italy has been flying to New York and Miami since June and will start serving San Francisco and Los Angeles from April 2019. That has drawn criticism from an alliance of US-based airlines grouped in the “Partnership for Open & Fair Skies”, that Qatar Airways is using Air Italy to offer additional flights between the US and Europe, despite the agreement.<br/>