LaHood speaks out
The Hill ran an opinion editorial written by former Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today. In the piece, titled “Many Questions Still Unanswered about Norwegian Air’s Impact on Fair Competition,” LaHood says fair competition is one of the founding principles of Open Skies—and he should know, being the authority who oversaw the signing of Open Skies agreements with 16 different countries during his tenure. He raises a number of questions, and asserts: “While I am withholding final judgment until more facts become available, NAI’s proposal appears contrary to a key provision in our EU Second Stage agreement that ensured new commercial opportunities created by the agreement could not be exploited to subvert labor standards and create an unfair competitive environment.”