Global Airlines: Is It a Fair Playing Field

The US-UAE Open Skies Agreement was set into place to ensure fair competition between airlines with minimal involvement with the government. This agreement allows airlines to offer travel, shipping routing, and capacity at the lowest possible prices. And allow air carriers to travel across and land in their respective countries. To air carriers that are a part of this agreement are Emirates and Qatar airways. These two air carriers have received large subsidies from Persian Gulf countries. Many in the aviation community consider this an unfair advantage these companies have over their US counterparts but Over the year quite a few of the airlines have accepted subsidies for example the contract air mail act of 1925 subsidized what would become the modern air carriers we see today. Then more recently the US government bailed out American airlines shortly after 9/11. One thing I think everyone in aviation can agree on is that aviation is expensive. Even the large carriers we see today needed help occasionally otherwise they would not have been able to stay in business. I don’t believe that there is nothing wrong with that. But as a worldwide community we need to determine at what point dose that occasional help become unfair.

 We should discuss the export import bank. This bank gives loans to companies like Emirates at very low interest costs so the at they can use that money to fund their own investments. This funding allows them to purchase aircraft at mush lower rates than their competitors. And the reason that this is such an issue is the fact that domestic air carriers are not able to compete with these carriers that are purchasing substantial amounts of aircraft rapidly and suddenly flying more routs between the US and other countries. This enables them to drop their prices and out perform US companies unfairly. This has become more prevalent with Norwegian International Airlines. They operate 450 routes with 150 destinations.

References

Correll, D. S., & Krupa, C. (2017, December 02). US airlines at odds over aviation agreements with Qatar and UAE. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/us-airlines-at-odds-over-aviation-agreements-with-qatar-and-uae

McGee, B. (2015, September 02). How much do taxpayers support airlines? Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/mcgee/2015/09/02/how-much-do-taxpayers-support-airlines/71568226/

Mutzabaugh, B. (2017, February 23). Norwegian Air's $65 fares to Europe: What's the catch? Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/02/23/norwegians-65-fares-europe-whats-catch/98292866/

Who should be the next FAA Administrator?

Who should be the FAA’s next administrator? First let’s look at what the job description for the FAA administrator is according to SKYBARAY the description of the FAA administrator is “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the agency of the United States Department of Transportation responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation within the U.S., as well as operation and development of the National Airspace System. Its primary mission is to ensure safety of civil aviation.” John Dunkin has managed airlines and flight departments. It is not as though he is not qualified to hold the position. John Dunkin did manage trumps campaigns air transportation and according to Jonathan Swan from AXIOS he managed transportation to 203 cities in 43 states over the course of 21 months. But he is not the only one interested in the position. Dan Elwell an acting Administrator and former American airlines pilot is also in the running, and he is not alone. Bobby Styrgell a former naval fighter pilot, naval top gun instructor and the acting administrator under George W. Bush is also in the running. Then looking in the past we had Marion Blakey as FAA administrator her before she was the FAA administrator she worked with the Departments of Commerce and Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the White House according to the FAA. It is not unheard of for the FAA administrator to not be a pilot as long as they have the required experience in running or organizing an organization, although it definitely helps. This choice on who will be our next FAA administrator is important. The leader of any organization is given power to shape how the system is run. Policies change with people and time and this could be good or bad.

References

SKYbrary Wiki. (2018, March 03). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Federal_Aviation_Administration_(FAA)

History. (2018, January 03). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/about/history/

Laris, M., & III, A. H. (2018, February 27). As Trump puts personal pilot on shortlist to head FAA, agency faces biggest challenges in decades. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-trump-puts-longtime-personal-pilot-on-shortlist-to-head-faa-agency-faces-biggest-challenges-in-decades/2018/02/27/c1ac0102-1b4d-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html?utm_term=.a81912a86531