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### C apitol Area Telugu Society

May 27, 2015

The Honorable John Kerry Secretary of State U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520

The Honorable Anthony Foxx Secretary of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

The Honorable Penny S. Pritzker Secretary of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20230

FOR DOCKETS DOS

- 2015

- 0016, DOT

- OST

- 2015

- 0082, and DOC

- 2015

- 0001

Dear Secretaries :

On behalf of Capitol Area Telug u Society, representing 9,900 members of the T elu gu community across the Washington, DC area

, I am writing to urge you to continue to support the Open Skies agreement with the UAE and not reopen negotiations based on the concer ns of three U.S. air carriers

. The mem bers of Capitol Area Telugu Society value the access to the cities of Hyderabad and Chennai afforded by our Open Skies agreements with the UAE and Qatar, and we are concerned that a renegotiation will jeopardize commerce, diminish our close cultur al interactions and impede travel between the Washington, DC area and these destination s

.

Our organization strongly opposes proposal s to freeze expansion of service by Gulf airlines from Dulles International Airport or to remove these carriers from the Washington D.C. air travel market. We believe that current Open Skies agreements are serving their purpose in supplying greater consumer choice and easier access to many international destinations that were, prior to t he entry of the Gulf carriers , very difficult to reach. This success would be curtailed were the U.S. to back out of these agreements.

As previously mentioned t he Gulf States airlines currently offer the most convenient access to the Indian

state s of Andhra Prade s h and Tela ngana where m any members of our organization migrated to America from and where we still have extended family . Whereas most other carriers access the area through Delhi and Mumbai, Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways

— offer single

- connection flights through their hubs

in the Middle East to get to Hyderabad and Chennai in addition to other major cities in India. Chennai and Hyderabad are two key cities for Telugus hailing from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.www.theuscats.org

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### C apitol Area Telugu Society

Total trave l time currently is five to ten hours sh orter . Connections are also easier to make than in busy

Ch atrapati Shivaji International Airport. Also, ever since these airlines have introduced the service, there has been more choice in routes and pricing. Losing these routes between Washington to the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would be a deep disappointment to the Telu gu community . Traveling to and from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would

become si gnificantly more difficult, and likely more expen sive as soon as the few remaining carriers flying to Hyderabad and Chennai adjust their fares to account for the lack of competition. An unintended side effect of these changes would increase the prices for all Americans and visitors to the U nited

States u sing the European routes since there will be more traffic through the European cities. Since the introduction of the customs and immigration clearance has been added in some of the Middle E astern cities it has also helped customs and immigration teams to r educe cost. In addition, t his will affect our ability to stay in contact with family and friends, as we will be more limited in our international travel and they will face greater challenges in coming here. Overall, such a change would have a stifling eff ect on the cultural interchange we currently enjoy. Washington is a global city, and it needs robust global air travel. Open Skies is making that happ en and

should not be undermined. As your agency considers potential action on Open Skies agreements, we

encourage you to avoid taking any action that would make it more difficult for Telu gus and other people of diverse origin to reach overseas destinations they care about.

Sincerely,

Madhusudhan Kola President, Capitol Area Telugu Society president@theuscats.org http://theuscats.org/home.html