For anyone interested in the disagreement between the US Big Three and some of the Gulf carriers, Tim Clark gave an insightful press conference on the issue the other day.

For anyone interested in the disagreement between the US Big Three and some of the Gulf carriers, Tim Clark gave an insightful press conference on the issue the other day. It can be found in full on Emirates' YouTube channel.

trevor2, why dont you summarise it for us? :)

Or go across to Plane Talking on Crikey and read up on Ben Sandilands thread re this...

I didn't watch the Q&A after but here's what I took from the press conference.
3 US carries submitted a dossier to US Government criticising the Gulf carrier’s business structure, practices and accused them of being subsidised by their government owners.

Sir Tim Clark spoke for 30 minutes with 1 hour or questions after to refute the claims in the dossier and essentially accuse the 3 major US carriers of trying to close down the Open Skies policy developed in the late 90's in favour of a more model that protected their own interests. 
A summary of Tim's points below;

- Emirates believe the "Open Skies" model that was developed by the US and was adopted by not only the gulf carriers but Europe and Asia has been done so fairly and openly.

- Open Skies document had no mention of subsidies but also pointed out US government bailed out US airlines after 9/11

- On Government Subsidies: Tim was adamant that Emirates is not dependent on government subsidies, rather it is a self-sufficient profit driven company that has made a profit for 27 straight years.

- On Freeze New Landing Sites: US carriers request to freeze new landing sites would "Violate the Open Skies agreement" and be anti-competitive.

- On Profits Damaged: Tim refuted the US carriers claim that the Gulf carriers were damaging their profits.  Tim highlighted the US carriers are making record profits, quoting Delta returning 7 billion to shareholders.  He continued to say Emirates choice would have been to invest much of that and develop product and employee satisfaction.

- The real goal: Tim summaries by stating the US carriers are in fact seeking to limit Open Skies and protect their own interests. 

- Working with US Companies: Tim spoke about the good Emirates has done to the US economy, mentioning their encouragement to Boeing for the 777X and backing it up with $76b order and would create 470,000 jobs in USA.

Enjoy!