Emirates loses contract for US employees
Or something like that...
"It’s a common perception that Washington, D.C., isn’t always known for its good judgment. However, ALPA, the United MEC, and United Airlines (UAL) worked together, and the General Services Administration (GSA) reversed a decision that would have required U.S. government employees to fly on a state-supported, foreign competitor—Emirates Airline. Instead, our collaborative, quick, and aggressive efforts will keep those passengers on United.
You can’t make this stuff up. The U.S. government awarded National Air Cargo (NAC) a contract to operate service on 31 U.S.–Middle East city pairs under the Fly America Act. Why should you care? NAC has just one passenger aircraft. It would be nearly impossible to use that NAC aircraft to fly all the routes awarded. What’s the real story? Another scheme.
The NAC contract was simply a “rent-a-code” ploy for Emirates flights to and from the United States. The purpose of the Fly America Act is to ensure that passengers whose travel is paid for by the U.S. government will fly on U.S. airlines. This flying may include some code sharing with foreign partners, but NAC planned to fulfill this contract almost exclusively by placing its designator code on Emirates flights to and from the United States, putting U.S. taxpayer dollars to work supporting the Gulf carrier.
Recognizing the threat to our flying, United immediately mounted challenges. First, United challenged the GSA award to NAC/Emirates. Second, United challenged NAC’s application for scheduled passenger authority at DOT. ALPA strongly backed United’s positions in both efforts and, along with Delta Air Lines and Airlines for America, argued aggressively in support of UAL’s position at DOT. Our joint efforts prevailed—the GSA terminated NAC’s contract this week, returning 27 city pairs to UAL.
While this is an important and promising development, it is only temporary. The battle is not over. Long-term success is still uncertain because the GSA and DOT proceedings are still underway and the GSA decision could be reversed again in the coming weeks. It is clear, however, that concerted action by ALPA members can effect change in Washington when we focus on the common ground we share. In the coming weeks and months, our union must push for a long-term—not just a temporary—policy that enhances the competitive position of U.S. airlines and does not threaten U.S. jobs. We need to make certain that U.S. government policy advances—or at a minimum, does not harm—the U.S. airline industry and its employees.
This victory is in part due to ALPA’s impeccable reputation in Washington, built upon the dedicated efforts of thousands of ALPA pilots who enable our government affairs work by participating in our Calls-to-Action and contributing to ALPA-PAC. Couple that with the support of thousands of ALPA pilots across all company lines, and we have a reliable cache of support for our issues.
As I said earlier, much work remains to remake our government’s policies for our industry and to achieve a truly level playing field globally, but the GSA’s decision serves as an indicator that we are flying in the right direction"