A bill to ban non-US airlines flouting labor protections could get vote

The full US House of Representatives could vote on a bill to bar what it calls “flags of convenience” airlines from seeking to fly to the US, after the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee approved the measure late last week. The bill is a shot across Norse Atlantic Airways’ bow as that airline seeks to begin low-cost flights to the US later this year. The Fair and Open Skies Act, introduced in May by a Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and cosponsored by a bipartisan clutch of 10 representatives from states as diverse as Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Georgia, and Nebraska, is expected to come up for a vote in the full House when the chamber returns from its August recess, or by late September. Sources close to the matter say DeFazio is working to get more sponsors for the bill before it comes up for a floor vote. The bill would prohibit airlines that flout international and U.S. labor laws from flying to the country by directing the Transportation Department (DOT) to withhold a foreign air carrier permit from airlines that are in violation of protections. Specifically, the Fair and Open Skies Act invokes the provision in the US-EU open skies agreement that requires airlines on both sides of the Atlantic to adhere to the labor laws of their home countries and the US bill, if enacted, would apply only to airlines applying to fly to the US and would not be retroactive.<br/>